Dilettante
by Ellie Oh
Summary: Modern AU. Gendry works at the college Library and he can't help but notice Arya in all her sultry, quirky glory. Shy!Gendry/Sexy!Arya. A story of finding your way and secret infatuations. Library games and hilarity ensues.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, this is my first ASOIAF fic, AHHH! This has been bouncing around my head and hard drive for a while and now here we are. It's modern AU with Nerd!Gendry and Sultry!Arya. Comments, questions, suggestions are always welcome!

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He looked over at the giant clock up on the wall above the ancient portrait of former King Aerys Targaryen, his brows furrowed as he plucked his cell phone from his pocket and checked the time on there as well. She was late. In all the time she had been coming to the library, on all the days that he worked, she always came at exactly the same time. She had for the passed eight months. And before that, she had come on a different day, at a different time, at exactly that same time.

Did he feel a little sketch for knowing her schedule as well as he did? Kind of. But, he pushed his self loathing aside for the moment and looked back at the clock. He didn't know her to be late – well, he didn't really know her at all, per se. He knew of her, he knew about her, he didn't _actually_ know her. Contrary to what his fantasies would suggest.

He went back to re-cataloging the Photography section, trying his hardest not to think about her or the fact that she was late. He got all the way through the D's before looking back at the clock – fifteen minutes. She was late fifteen minutes. He shook his head, pushing her from his mind momentarily and kept cataloging, disappointed in humans in general for being so sloppy and inconsiderate, because really, it wasn't that hard to put back a book in its rightful place.

He thought about her – because really, when wasn't he thinking about her? He thought about how long he had eyed her, when he first even saw her. He remembered seeing her at school when they were younger, he was two years older than her so it had only been fleeting. She was young back then, with hair past her shoulders and a tiny frame. He hadn't spoken to her, never once caught her eye in the hall, it was like they never even existed in the same space and time. Then she had started showing up at the library on a regular basis, studying, reading, playing on her computer. He had watched her, admired her, wondered about her.

She had been coming to the library for two years now, and in those two years he had never even been able to muster up enough courage to even look her in the eye. She was a mystery to him, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl if he'd ever seen one. Maybe he was just watching too many movies, reading into too many literary devices.

He chanced a look over to the lounge chairs, surprised to find her now sitting over there with her legs thrown over the arm and a book in her hands, clearly going by him unnoticed at some point. He felt his heart thump oddly in his chest.

He felt pathetic – well, he felt pathetic on the daily – but he always felt extra pathetic when it came to Arya Stark.

She was just... everything he wasn't. She was loud and vivid, cheeky and unconcerned. She was unconcerned with how people thought of her, looked at her, felt about her. She was blasé and cool, just so effortlessly that it made him mildly jealous. But, she was also so inviting, in her own intense way. It was her eyes, he thought, they were wide, expressive pools of grey that lingered too long or not enough.

Her hair was up today, he noted. Her long bob that usually hung to her shoulders in straight, dark brown strands was pulled up into an odd sort of messy ponytail, pieces falling down around her slender neck, tucked behind her ears. She tugged at a piece as she read, seemingly unaware of the action.

He turned away quickly as he felt her shift her gaze from the book and over to where he resided, he went back to putting away the Photography books. He didn't look at her again for a long while.

He thought about her often, even with her open, approachable nature and younger age, she just seemed so inaccessible, so out of his league. Because she was so out of his league.

Even with the two year age difference, she was leaps and bounds better than him. For one, she was attractive, exceedingly so. She had grown from tiny to petite, with smirking eyes and a great... chest – he blushed a little at the thought of her tits, shaking his head. She was bright, he figured out that she had graduated a year early, mostly from the switch in times when she came to the library. And, mostly, she wasn't a shy, nerdy, twenty year old virgin who worked part time at a library. That alone made her unreachable to his pathetic mind. Add in the fact that she didn't even know he was alive mixed with how vivacious and loud she was just spelled out: _never going to happen_.

But that never stopped his mind from lingering to her. He thought about the way she looked up from her lashes, over a book, downcast as she read. The way she would bite at her lower lip when she was thinking, making him want to groan. He liked the way she picked horror-thrillers to read or delved into Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller. She was interesting and beautiful and so unlike him.

Maybe that was why he liked her so much. She wasn't boring or lame, he imagined she didn't spend her days off playing video games or reading comics, masturbating to someone who didn't even know she was alive.

No, Arya Stark was cooler than that. She probably went to concerts and dated guys from her fencing class – he knew she fenced from the Instagram he definitely didn't stalk or anything. She probably flirted with bartenders and got drinks on the house, dozens of people vying for her attention. That was probably why she didn't see him, she was too busy with all the other cool, attractive people to be bothered by him. By a nobody.

He wondered if she'd ever noticed him here, ever once looked over and thought casually – hey, that guy looks vaguely familiar. Probably not.

He pulled the cart around to another row to start on another genre of books that were out of order. He sighed as he did so. He wasn't cool, he was lame and boring and basically nothing special. He was a twenty year old art student at King's College, he spent his time working at a fucking library and his Godfather's Auto Repair shop. He had an apartment that his friends Hot Pie and Podrick often crashed at and read a lot of books. He liked comics and Shakespeare and Keats, he listened to underrated music and spent most of his weekends under the hood of a car or eating pizza with the two of them in front of a tv.

He sighed – what the actual fuck would Arya Stark want with him?

The answer was, nothing.

With his self loathing and insecurity dialed up a notch, he left the cart of books where they were, walked over to the front desk and clocked himself out for lunch. He just needed to clear his head for a bit, think about something else other than Arya Stark for two fucking minutes. He pulled on his jacket and told his boss that he'd be back in an hour, then headed out of the library in search of food and another topic of interest.

He completely missed the way her eyes followed his movements, all the way until he walked out the door.

Arya sat up in her armchair as she watched him stalk from where she'd been spying on him in between bookshelves, over to the front desk. She watched him shrug on his jacket a little harshly, grabbing a book from behind the counter and make his way out of the building. She felt a little put out, one of the reasons she liked coming here so much – aside from getting away from the crack den she called a house and her sister being all romp-y with her boyfriend – was because he was here. She liked watching him. She didn't know his name or who he was, but she liked watching him.

She had noticed him first when she started coming to study here last year. She'd been trying to cram everything in and get excellent marks so they would let her graduate early, and seeing as how her house was crazy and loud, and Sansa's apartment held her sex-capades, she retreated to the safety of the public library downtown.

Technically the King's Landing Public Library was also kind of the King's College Library – she wasn't entirely sure how that worked or whatever, but she was sure if she really wanted to know, someone would explain it to her. She wondered if that's how he'd gotten a job here.

He was young, he had to be. There was no way that he was significantly older that her, if she had to guess she'd say he was somewhere between her and Jon, definitely around Sansa's age. Which lead her to the question, didn't someone have to be, well, old to be a librarian? Which then of course lead her to the feeble, somehow correlation of the two libraries, his age, and that he went to King's College. Clearly she should be a detective with all of this amateur sleuthing she had going on.

But, aside from her hypothesized connection about him being a college student and his age range, she knew nothing else about him. And for whatever reason, she hadn't cared to find out more. Mostly because he liked to pretend she wasn't in the room.

She knew that he was aware of her presence, she could feel his gaze on her all the time. It made her feel sexy, attractive, so she never stopped him. But, he had never spoke a word to her in all the time that she'd been coming here. He would stare at her from across the library, rows of bookshelves between them, and never once had he made a move. Although it empowered her that she might've made him nervous, it also made her annoyed.

He was cute though, in that quiet boy way. She could tell he didn't have a ton of confidence, it was in the way he carried himself, with his head bowed and his eyes downcast. She wasn't sure why though, he was attractive. He had a handsome face, with intense blue eyes and dark hair that she wanted to run her hands through.

She'd thought about the nameless boy, the one she saw every day at noon. She thought a lot about him actually – especially at night, or in the shower, or to drowned out the sound of Sansa's sexual wails from down the hall. He looked strong under his slightly baggy t-shirt, she often wondered what his body looked like. He probably really had no idea how attractive he was, he seemed like a guy who had no idea. She wondered why he had no idea, or why he was so shy, or why he never made eye contact with her or never said hello. Like, he only stalked her life in the library and the guy couldn't manage a quick, "Hello, my name is..."?

Arya wasn't a weak woman, she was strong and independent and did as she pleased most of the time. She wasn't a damsel, she was hardly ever in distress, and if she wanted something, she took it. Because that's who she was. But, there was just something about the nameless boy, the way he stared at her, it made her want him to take her. It made her want to sit by and let him figure it out, to buck up and make the first move. That was mostly why two years had gone by and she still didn't know his name.

But, there came a time where she had to put away her desire to be dominated, for someone to suppress her intense personality and take charge. She'd given him the opportunity, she'd worn her tightest jeans, her most alluring skits, her most tit enhancing shirts. Nothing.

She had dropped books and fully bent over to retrieve them, she let her fingers absently play with the necklace near her breasts, she'd even reached high for a book she'd never be able to grab. All for naught. He never even budged.

She had used all of the tricks in Sansa's book, all the subtle flirting ways her sister had taught her had proven unsuccessful with him. Sansa had thought that maybe he was just gay, and it had made her think about it as well. But, she remembered the way his breathing would quicken or how he would discreetly try to adjust his erection when she pulled a stunt. He wasn't gay, he was just avoiding her existence.

That should've put her off, but it didn't. It only made her want to figure him out that much more.

Sometimes she wondered what if she got to know him and he was horrific and strange? Or lecher-y and crude? It would basically dash her dreams.

She had been lusting, wondering, and sighing about a boy she didn't even know the name of for two years. Two fucking years. What was wrong with her?

She was startled from her thoughts by the sight of him walking back into the library. He was sipping on a soda as he went to the front desk to presumably clock himself back in from his apparent lunch break. She watched as he nodded to the woman sitting at the desk before resuming the work that he had previously abandoned in his earlier haste to leave the building. She decided then that enough was enough, she was done waiting. It was time to let Naughty Arya out to play.

She waited a while, letting him get back to work for a bit. She wasn't even pretending to know what the words on the pages in front of her meant, she was too eager to care. She was going to do it, she was going to go get a name out of that boy. She closed the book in her hands, marking it, and setting it on the chair with her bag as she stood. She smiled as she slinked over to where he was a few rows down, putting books back into their rightful places.

She walked up to where he stood, stopping before him and waiting for him to take note of her presence. "Hi."

He turned quickly to look at her, his blue eyes wide and shock written all over his features as she stood in front of him. She smiled up at him, two parts nice and innocent, one part sultry. She never realized how tall he was from across the room, it made her want to climb him.

He blinked, trying to swallow and appease his suddenly dry throat. Arya Stark was standing in front of him, speaking to him. Did he fall asleep? Was he dreaming?

He noted the way her wide, grey eyes held his, the smirk-smile on her bow-shaped lips. Her pale skin was flawless up close, it looked smooth, like glass. His eyes quickly drifted down her neck to her chest and the vast expanse of pale skin that was displayed before him. Her black crop top had a wide front, almost making it off the shoulder, barely holding on to the tops of her shoulders. It then dipped down into a low sweetheart neckline, basically the whole of her upper chest and cleavage was staring him in the face.

_Fuck._

Looking at her fully now for the first time today, her whole outfit made him want to groan. The black crop top, paired with her tight black skinny jeans was almost too much. And to add to the list of cool things about her, she pulled her outfit together with a dark green plaid button up that was loosely hanging off her shoulders. She looked like she stepped right out of a Nirvana music video.

She couldn't help the slight smirk that was added to her smile as she watched him quickly sweep her outfit, before bringing his eyes back up to look into hers. Never had she been more happy that she was a lazy bitch who didn't like to do laundry and had stolen one of Sansa's push up bras. When she got home, she was going to kiss that saucy little red head.

"I'm Arya." She continued on, hoping he would get the hint and talk to her. So far, it wasn't happening. He just swallowed thickly and kept staring into her eyes. She smiled a little wider, her sarcastic playful side coming out. "Usually this is where you would introduce yourself back..."

"Oh." He said, shaking his head and looked away sheepishly. "Yeah. I'm, ah, Gendry."

"Well, _Gendry_," She watched his jaw tighten at the way she added a slight purring quality to his name. Sometimes she hated herself for hanging around Sansa and her friends so much, she was never this flirty or overtly sexual, but he brought it out in her. And so did her sister, the bitch. "Could you help me find a book?"

She smirked, this was going to be way too easy.

He cleared his throat and nodded, "Yeah, ah, yeah I can help you." He took a second to slow down the fast beating of his heart, to get his shit together. She was speaking to him, noticing him, and he was fucking blowing it. He started again, hopefully less hopelessly awkward. "What are you looking for?"

He should've known by the mischievous swirl in her grey eyes or the not so casual upturn of her lips that this wasn't going to be good. Apparently sight and reason had left his brain the moment he'd noticed her standing there beside him.

"The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty."

He had to try really, excessively hard not to let out the groan that was so desperately trying to break free. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty? Was she for real? She might as well asked for Lolita or fucking Fifty Shades of Grey. Either way, he now wanted to kill himself. The thought of her reading a book, from _his _library, about sex, alone, in her bed, possibly touching herself...

He almost forgot to breath.

He was flushing, the small blush creeping up his neck in splotchy stains, his eyes widened a bit as she said the title. Oh, way too easy. Now she knew all he could think about was her and that book and whatever fantasy was playing out in his head.

He definitely wasn't gay, and he most certainly seemed to be into her by his odd, but endearing reactions. So why the fuck couldn't he have gotten his shit together and come ask her out two years ago?

She watched as he cleared his throat, his eyes pulling away from hers to look down, away from her. "It's, ah, it's over...this way."

He turned and started to walk in the direction of where the book was located, leaving her to follow behind him. He was stuttering slightly, unfocused as he spoke. It made her insides swell that she had this effect on him, made her feel womanly and powerful.

She followed closely behind him, coming to stand a little too close as he scoured the bookshelf for the book she was looking for. He could feel her body heat, her breath against his shoulder. He tried to brush it off, act professional, he didn't want to scare her off. He plucked a book from the bottom row, turning and handing it to her. She was still staring at him, attempting to catch his gaze once again, she smiled. She looked down at the book in her hands, flipping it over and glancing at the back.

"Thanks." She looked back up at him, catching his eyes with her own, smirking a bit. "It's a prefect read for my bath later." She watched again as he desperately tried to contain some form of emotion that he was unwilling to let go in front of her. Uptight? It would be fun unlacing him. "Well, thanks again, Gendry. I hope I see you around."

She gave him one last lingering look and sly smile before strutting back over to the lounge chairs where her belongings were placed, her hips swinging a little more knowing that he was watching her go. She grabbed her giant bag and the other book she had been reading and then headed up to the front desk to check out the two books. Then, she left.

Gendry let out a deep sigh as he watched her leave, running a hand through his hair and over his face. He let out a low, "Fuck." Unsure of what to do now that he had an image of a naked, soaking wet Arya touching herself because of that book was surgically implanted into his brain, he went and sat down at the front desk, offering to cover for his boss so she could get something to eat. He could use the time to sit and hide his erection.

He sat in the comfortable chair behind the desk, zoning out and replaying the whole meeting with Arya. Could he have been more of a bumbling idiot? He was embarrassed to even think about the fact that he'd almost – _almost –_ moaned in front of her more than once, but then when he recalled what he had actually said? Or, didn't say for that matter.

He spent the majority of his run in with her silently standing there as she smirked up at him. Was it possible to kill himself with sticky notes? Because he wanted to try.

He had just been flirted at by one of the single sexiest girls he'd ever seen in real life, and he just fucking stood there. He stood there! Staring down at her, tripping over his own words, acting like he was still fourteen. God, he was fucking ridiculous.

He may not have much – okay, any – experience, but he was still a functioning human most of the time. He wasn't fourteen anymore, he wasn't in high school, she wasn't an unobtainable object of desire. She was a girl. A girl he absolutely fancied and fantasized about a lot more than he'd ever admit to, but she was still just a girl. A girl who had flirted at him, about a naughty book and a bath and basically admitted to wanting to see him again.

That thought alone was enough to drive himself mad.

Maybe... maybe he'd talk to her when she came in next. Like, actually speak to her and not just stumble all over himself like an uncultured mess. He shook his head, his life was an embarrassing joke.

He pulled out his phone, seeing a text from Hot Pie and another from his Mom. Great, the only two people texting him were his mother and his annoying best friend. He was such a loser, no wonder Arya practically ran away from him today.

He opened his Instagram, seeing he had a notification. He clicked the notification icon and felt his heart stop momentarily and then speed up very quickly. Arya Stark had just followed him. She had found him and now she was following him. What was this life and how did it happen to him?

He quickly accepted her request and in a show of courage he didn't normally have, he followed her back. He was following Arya Stark, she was following him, they knew who each other were now, this was crazy.

He quickly exited the app, trying to move his mind away from Arya, she didn't need to worm herself into his brain right now.

He responded to the texts that held questions of when he was getting off work and what he'd like for dinner, and attempted to spend the rest of his shift actually getting some work done seeing as he'd been distracted all day. He sent out the late notices on their email, responded to the questions about books people couldn't find, and finally finished replacing all the ink in the printers by the time his shift had ended.

He clocked out, said goodbye to his boss and made his way out to his car. The traffic wasn't bad from the library to his apartment building, making it easier to get home and quicker than usual. He went up to his apartment and left the door unlocked for Hot Pie who was bringing dinner over soon. Gendry threw himself down on his comfortable bed, running his hands over his face.

He removed his phone from his pants pocket, texting Hot Pie that he was home and the door was unlocked. He then went onto Instagram to kill some time – and definitely not obsess over the fact that Arya was now following him. He scrolled through the feed of pictures, finding them all to be predictable and not what he wanted to see. He found himself typing in her username before he could stop himself. About three hours had passed since Arya left, since she had added him, since he pretended she didn't exist so he could get his work done, he wasn't sure what she would even post in that time, but he was looking anyway. Because he was a fucking stalker and whipped as hell.

There was a new picture from an hour ago, it was of her sitting in her bath tub, cropped strategically so that nothing below the swell of her breast was shown above the water in the tub. She was biting her lower lip in the same smirky-smile she had given him, the book in her hand beside her. The caption read simply; _About to start a new book, whose surprised? The answer is no one._

It already had a ton of likes, he was sure they were mostly because she was very much naked in a bath tub and people though that if they liked it, she'd post more pictures like that. He clenched his jaw as his eyes swept over the picture again. _Fuck. _He felt himself go hard again at the sight of it. The longer he looked, the harder her got, the more his mind turned dirtier and dirtier.

He looked at the time, trying to calculate how long it would be before Hot Pie came over, if he had enough time to take care of himself. The answer was most likely no.

Gendry closed out of the app and threw his phone beside him, getting up and going into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He needed to cool himself down, the last thing he needed was Hot Pie noticing his hard on and start in on his own fantasy girl – grisly details and all. He blanched a little at the thought.

He walked into the living room and threw himself down on the couch, turning the tv on. He flipped through the channels and settled on the rerun of _X-Men_, while he waited. It wasn't long after that when Hot Pie showed up, Gendry always knew it was him because he was the only one who came blustering in all loud and clumsy. Also, because he was one of the only people who came to Gendry's apartment. He held back a self-deprecating sigh.

"Oy! Dude, I'm here."

Gendry sat up on the couch and turned to face his best friend. "No shit." He stood and walked into the kitchen were Hot Pie was setting down the food he'd brought and ignoring Gendry's crank ass attitude. He lifted a brow, "No, Pod tonight?"

Hot Pie just rolled his eyes and snorted, "Nope, the little shit has too much "studying" to get done. Lame."

Gendry just shook his head at Hot Pie's oblivious rudeness towards their missing friend, Podrick was even more shy and quiet than the three of them combined. He was a good boy, who did what he was told and made the grades to appease his parents and keep his scholarship. Hot Pie didn't understand Pod as well as Gendry did, but they had all been friends for a long time. "What've we got tonight?"

One of the awesome things about being best friends with Hot Pie was his amazing talent at cooking food – which was the basis of his childhood nickname. The bigger boy was in the Culinary program at the college, but had gotten hired as a chef at this unbelievably great restaurant and would bring them dinner when he got off on an early shift. It smelled divine.

"Steak. And a bunch of other shit."

Very eloquent, Hot Pie was.

Gendry smirked and moved around the small kitchen to grab plates and utensils for them. They ate and watched _X-Men_, talked about the plans they had for the weekend, their work schedules, anything interesting involving the people they went to school with. Which of course lead to Hot Pie moaning on about how in love he was with Margaery Tyrell, a senior, who was head of the sorority at Kings College and from a prominent family.

Margaery was beautiful, kind, and iridescent. She was a lady if Gendry'd ever seen one, polished and poised, groomed for greatness. Everyone at the school wanted Margaery, so Gendry hadn't been at all surprised when Hot Pie had first told him of his crush on her last year. Would she ever go for anyone like his best friend? Probably not. She dated frat boys that hung around with her brother, sons of important political families, not someone like Hot Pie. That hadn't dwindled his friends bone for the older girl, if anything, it made him want her more.

Gendry could understand, he wanted Arya more than he wanted a first edition copy of _The Complete Poems of Robert Frost _or a signed _Everything is Illuminated_ DVD. More than he wanted to meet Sir Ian McKellen and talk about Gandalf or a tour of the _Las Vegas Crime Lab_ set during the graveyard shift. He got it, he understood where Hot Pie was coming from. He was there right now.

They eventually made their way into the living room, playing _Call of Duty_ once _X-Men_ had ended. That's how they spent the rest of their night, playing video games and talking about the girls they'd never have sex with. It was a typical thursday night for them.

Hot Pie left a few hours later, leaving Gendry to take a shower and go to bed. They both had class in the morning and Hot Pie couldn't miss anymore classes than he already had, the Master Chef already though he was lazy as it was. Gendry bid his friend goodnight and locked up after him, throwing the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and set it to clean while he was out tomorrow morning.

He made his way into his bedroom, shedding clothes as he did. He turned on the shower and waited for it to heat up, he looked at himself in the mirror as he was waiting. Dark, messy hair, boring blue eyes, a lanky frame. He was not impressive, or striking, it was the main reason why girls didn't look twice at him.

He jumped in the shower, letting the hot water run over him. He laid his head against the tile and thought about her, again. He thought about her wide grey eyes, expressive and bright. Her tight little body, that smirking mouth. She was just so... alluring.

He felt himself grow hard at the thought of her, at the thought of her outfit today, her presence so close to his, her obvious innuendo, that fucking picture with that fucking book. He let out a groan as he grabbed himself and started to stroke.

He wasn't sure why she had this hold over him, why he was even as into as he was. There was just something about Arya Stark, something he couldn't place, that made him completely unlike his normal self. She made him intense and wanton, horny all the damn time, she made him want things, want to be different, to be better.

He bit at his bottom lip as another low moan escaped him, he pictured her in her bathtub, petting herself, her head thrown back, biting her lower lip. He could hear her moaning, moaning his name as she came, picturing them doing things from that book. He pumped his fist a little faster at the thought, leaning his forearm against the shower wall.

He pictured her on top, riding him hard and fast, in control as always. But then he thought about flipping her over and taking control of her, dominating her, making her beg for him. And she would, because she loved the way she felt with his cock inside her.

He came hard right then, his breathing haggard, leaving him breathless as he leaned into the cool tiles. What had gotten into him?

He washed himself quickly, rinsed out his hair and then shut off the shower. He dried himself and pulled on his sleep pants, laying down in his bed. He reached for his phone to plug it in, ignoring the text from his uncle about work tomorrow. He laid his head on his pillow, closing his eyes, and tried not to think about how she would look asleep beside him.

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A/N: I'M SO SCARED. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, GUYS.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So, I was trying really hard to wait to post this until tuesday, but, I caved. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and responded to this story! To say I'm shocked is an understatement. I really adore this fandom, but it's also a bit scary on here because people are fiercely loyal and generally dislike AUs. So, thank you again, readers! You're the BEST! This chapter is all Arya, but don't worry, Gendry and her reunite next chapter.

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Arya jumped out of her car and practically ran into Sansa's apartment – she had started on and off staying there once they had moved in three years ago and hadn't really left since. Before that, Sansa had begun spending more and more time at her Sandor's place, bringing more and more of her belongings until he had finally took the hint her sister had been desperately trying to drop and suggested they actually move in together and get a place of their own. Arya had come not too long after that, jumping at the chance to get away from the full house that was their family home – annoying life lessons, cheesy montages and all. She always mentally flipped off Bob Saget when she got the chance.

Staying with them was actually one of the ways she had come to accept the Hound and his mildly inappropriate relationship with her sister – although, the two of them still held a private annoyance with one another, but they were all much closer now. Including Arya and Sandor.

Arya had been unofficially living with them since she graduated a year early last summer, spending what would have been her senior year of high school doing absolutely nothing. She didn't have a job, she deferred her college acceptance for a year, and she wasn't making any serious plans about her life. Sansa worried about her, Arya knew that. That's why Sansa was letting her live here without question, she was worried.

They had become very close, as shocking as it had been to everyone that had known them when they were younger. They use to hate each other, be at each others throats over everything – every stupid decision, every remark, every eye roll. After their parents died it had stayed the same for a while, they kept up with the only normalcy they had left in their life – which just happened to be hating each other. Slowly that wore away into pain and sadness, and Arya and Sansa leaned on one another in a way they never had before, in a way that she had only reserved for Jon. They became close friends after that.

Sansa had changed since she started dating Sandor – and usually when a girl changes for her boyfriend, it was a bad thing. This time though, it wasn't. Sansa used to be judgmental and prissy, tattle-tailing and being petty all the time. But, after their parents died and she had started to grow up, meeting Sandor in the process, and she changed. He was good for her, he calmed her, excited her, loved her. He made her a better person, and everyone saw it. Maybe that's why Arya had softened for him, she wasn't a child anymore, she saw the way the Hound made her sister smile. She got it.

Now, she wasn't sure what her life would be like if they weren't close, all three of them – probably boring.

She opened the front door to the sounds of moaning and slapping flesh, Arya pulled a disgusted face at the sound and slammed the door loud enough to hopefully make it fucking stop. This she did not miss. This she could certainly go back in time and live without. What had happened to Sansa? She had use to be so prim and proper. Arya snorted, remembering that Sansa hadn't even let Joffrey kiss her until they'd been actually dating for a whole month. Now here she was, living with her significantly older boyfriend and having storms of loud sex. Literally. They would straddle make-out during movies they were watching, fuck during all hours of the day, everywhere, all the time.

What the actual fuck?

And, Arya chose to live here. That's what Sandor would say when she groaned about their annoying sex-capades – she chose to be here. It was true, she did live here by choice and clearly was mental for doing so.

The noises stopped soon after she had slammed the door, alerting them to her presence in the apartment. Arya made her way out of the living room and down the hall to her own room – aka the big guest bedroom, that was totally only Arya's, because let's be honest – and was so happy that the two of them decided to be normal humans and have sex in their bedroom this time, instead of the various other rooms of the house that Arya had caught them in. Arya shuddered as she remembered walking in on her sister pinned to the kitchen counter as the Hound pounded into her. Nope, never again.

Sansa came out of her room not too long after and made her way down the hall into Arya's room, leaning against the doorway. "Hey."

Arya looked over to her sister and smirked. Sansa was wrapped in her dark silk robe, her long hair was mussed, and her chest heaving from labored breathing. "Hey." Arya sat down on the bed, staring at her sister and smirking. "Sorry for disturbing you two." Her dark brows furrowed then, "Wait, were you guys, like... finished, or whatever?"

Sansa gave her younger sister a secretive smile that Arya had often tried to replicate. "No."

Arya sighed, a smile still on her lips. "He's gonna throw a tantrum about me being a cockblock again, isn't he?"

Sansa let out a laugh, "I'll make it up to him later."

Arya just shook her head, "And I really don't want to know how."

Sansa just smirked, saying nothing on the subject. "So," She began. "How was your library time?" Her brows furrowed as she looked at the clock on Arya's beside table, "You're home early for someone who went late."

"Yeah well, it's not my fault that Bran took ten hundred years in the shower this morning and then another five for him to get ready so I could drop him off. I mean, really, who is that monkey trying to impess?" Sansa laughed at her portrayal of their younger brother and Arya kept going. "I did have an encounter today."

Sansa's eyes lit up, "Oh! You did? Tell me." She came and sat down beside Arya on the bed, excited about the girl talk that was about to commence. It wasn't often that this happened – or that Arya allowed it to happen was a more accurate statement – and Sansa was going to lap it up while she could.

"I did. So, you know nameless boy, right?"

"Correct, I do."

"Okay, well, I made contact today."

Sansa gave a yelp of excitement, smothering the chuckle at the way Arya spoke of him like he was an alien. "I thought you were waiting for him to make a move? Did he finally make one?"

Arya shook her head, "No, not exactly. He seemed extra angsty today – which was super hot – and he was steadfastly ignoring my existence, as always, and something just clicked. I went and made the move, got his name and everything."

Sansa squealed again, causing Arya to make an annoyed face, which Sansa promptly ingored. "What is it?"

"Gendry."

"Wow, it sounds dashing."

Arya leaned back on the bed, throwing her arms over her face, groaning. "Fuck, he's so hot, Sans. Like, so nerdy and hot, I just want to throw him against a bookshelf and fuck him."

Sansa laughed at that, shaking her head at her sister. She had basically no doubt that Arya would certainly do just that if she really wanted to. "So, you made contact, got a name," Sansa glanced down at her outfit. "Looked super cute and fantastic while doing it. Anything else?"

"I definitely flirted, real hard. I think he almost had a heart attack. He was blushing and stumbling over his words, it was adorable. You would've died, Sans."

"Oh, god, what I would give to have nerdy virgins blushing all over me." Sansa stated, a dreamy look coming to her eyes as she fanned herself at the thought.

Arya rolled her eyes and scoffed, "They do. Every time we walk into the record store or the coffee shop, they all immediately start sweating and think of every geek fantasy they have, putting you in them."

Sansa swatted Arya's arm, "They're looking at you too, you goon." She pushed Arya once again for good measure, trying to implant it into her brain that she was beautiful and sultry and everybody's fantasy girl. "Tell me more about, _Gendry_." Arya ignored the way she purred his name.

"Well, I did the only thing I could think of." She smirked. "I asked him to help me find a book."

Her sister smirked as well, knowing it was totally something Sansa would do or had done in high school. "What book?"

"An erotic book. A book with a lot of sex happening in it."

"Good girl."

"He got it for me and then I may or may not have casually mentioned that I would be reading in the bath later."

Sansa laughed whole-heartedly at that, the peels of laughter making Arya laugh as well. "I can't believe you said that! Oh, we've trained you well." She sloppily pushed away tears from her laughing fit. "Ygritte will be so proud."

Arya rolled her eyes and chuckled at the mention of Jon's intense girlfriend. She would indeed be very proud when Arya told her about this, probably take her out for a drink to celebrate, or something equally as Ygritte. "Yeah, but now what do I do? What do I talk to him about when I see him next? I don't want him to think I'm some sex fiend who has multiple hook ups on the daily."

"He's not going to think that. Just find out more about him, ask him questions." Her blue eyes lit up, a wide smile on her face. "Wait, give me your phone."

Arya pulled the phone out of her pocket and handed it to her sister. "What? What's happening right now?" Sansa took the phone and started typing something into it. "Sansa, what are you doing?"

"I'm looking him up on Instagram. Everyone has an Instagram, Facebook is so over. And, I mean really, how many people are named, Gendry?" Arya scooted closer to Sansa to get a look at her phone over her sister's slim shoulder. "Aha! Look, one Gendry in all of the Instagrams."

The username was _GWB_ and the name beneath it was simply, Gendry. Sansa clicked on it, and groaned when it came up as private. She snuck a glance to an also disappointed Arya and quickly hit the _follow_ button.

"Sansa!" Arya pushed her sister and made to grab the phone from her. "Why did you do that?"

Sansa just laughed and used her height as an advantage over Arya, "Who cares, he's going to accept as soon as he sees you followed him."

"He will not! He's going to think I'm some creepy sex-fiend stalker girl and never speak to me again!"

Sansa rolled her eyes, "Oh my god, Arya, that it so not true. He's going to see that you made the effort to find him and be thoroughly excited that you did."

"You know nothing, Sansa Marie!"

"Stop imitating, Ygritte. You know how she hates that."

"Give me the phone."

"No."

"Sansa, give me the fucking phone!"

"No!"

Arya climbed on top of her sister, straddling her and attempting to extract the phone from her hands. They struggled and yelled, flipping positions more than once. They stopped when they heard the deep sigh from the doorway. Arya looked over her shoulder from where she was straddling her sister, who was on her stomach, facing the opposite wall. Sandor stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his bare chest, his eyes narrowed as he watched his girlfriend being mounted by her younger sister.

Sansa looked over shoulder sheepishly, "Hi, honey."

"What is this shit?"

Arya smiled innocently at the Hound, knowing that he hated the way she imitated Sansa and looked up through her lashes at him. "Yeah, hi, honey." Her tone held a sarcastic mocking but had no malice, he just glared at her from his spot by the door.

"You left me in the middle of sex to girl talk with your sister and fucking wrestle each other?"

Sansa rolled herself over onto her back, sitting up with Arya still planted on her thighs. She smiled over at Sandor, that perfect secret smile that Arya wanted so much to replicate. "Sorry, San, I'll be back in a minute."

Sandor just sighed deeply again, glaring at the two of them for another whole minute. Taking in the sight of Sansa and Arya tangled together, Sansa's robe disheveled and falling slightly open. He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the sisters who were smiling back at him apologetically and saucily at the same time.

Arya noticed his line of sight had went to the open part of Sansa's robe, revealing one of her breasts. Arya turned back and pinched Sansa's nipple, causing her to cry out in pain. Sansa pushed Arya off her and Arya then grabbed the phone out of her hand as Sansa massaged her throbbing appendage.

"Ow! Arya Louise, that hurt!"

Sandor just rolled his eyes and shook his head, walking away from the room and leaving the two of them. Sansa reached down into Arya's shirt and pinched her nipple for revenge, Arya yelled and pushed Sansa away from her, laughing.

"Sans, Sansa, stop!" She pushed her annoyed sister away again, still laughing. "Stop! Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Just, stop!"

Sansa sat back down on the bed, stopping the assault on her younger sister. "No more titty-twisters, you promised."

Arya, still laughing, "I know, I'm sorry. Never again."

Sansa fixed her robe and looked back at Arya eagerly. "Well, go on, check your phone."

Arya scoffed, it had been like five minutes, she doubted he had even checked his phone in that time. "Sans, I really don't think – " She cut herself off as she opened the Instagram app and checked the notification she had, seeing that two minutes after she followed him, he accepted and followed her back. "Holy shit, you were right."

Sansa tackled Arya onto the bed in a loving sister wrestle-embrace. She straddled Arya and started to tickle her, "See! Never doubt me again!"

Arya was laughing and trying to push her older sister off her, "I'll never doubt you again, Sans. Promise. Now get the fuck off me."

"Good." Sansa stopped tickling her and grabbed the cell phone back from Arya. She looked through the pictures and smiled. "Oooo, he's super cute, Arya."

"I know, thanks." She said, trying to reach for the phone.

"Definitely a virgin." She scoffed and flipped the phone over so Arya could see a picture. "I mean, look, he's posting pictures of books and art, and not in an ironic, hipster way. He's genuinely into this. So nerdy."

"Yeah, I told you that."

She grabbed the cell phone from Sansa's hands and went back to view all the pictures. There were some of random books and coffee, a couple of video games or comics, artwork that hung in hallways or on a canvas, cars he seemed to be working on, his greasy hands after working on said cars. And there were a few of just him – although she wasn't sure if he took them or someone else had. His hair varied in them, the older ones showed his hair a little shorter than it was now, the newer ones showed his dark hair falling over his forehead. His eyes looked so blue, so light and bright, she was sure they didn't have any effects on them, she had seem them in real life today, they were really that blue.

Why hadn't she thought of this before? Why hadn't she thought of looking him up?

Oh, yeah, because she hadn't known his name until right now.

Two years she had spent looking at him through bookshelves, thinking about him, making up scenarios about him, wondering what his name was or his favorite book, his favorite movie, how often he masturbated and if he thought about her as he did it. And now, in one day, she had learned his name and found his Instagram, finding out more and more about him as she scrolled through his pictures.

She put the phone down when she saw Sansa smirk down at her from where she was still placed on top of Arya. "You know, if we keep laying on top of each other like this, the Hound is probably going to get some pretty gnarly ideas."

Sansa smirked again, "He already has."

"Oh my god, no!" She pushed Sansa off of her and rolled over on the bed. Sansa laughing at her sister's horrified expression as she laid back, next to Arya. "That's horrific, tell me you're joking."

"Nope." She shook her head, trying to calm her laughing. "Come on, Arya, he's a guy, living with two incredibly attractive sisters. I'm not at all offended."

"I feel violated."

Sansa swatted Arya's arm, "Don't ever tell him I told you."

Arya rolled her eyes and pulled a disgusted face. "Why in the seven hells would I ever bring up the fact that he has a super gross fantasy threesome with us? I like living here, I don't want the Hound to kick me out."

"He would never. He loves you, Arya."

She rolled her eyes playfully, knowing it to be true. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Sansa sat up, "I should probably go back in there before he gets annoyed."

Arya scoffed, "I'm pretty sure he's already annoyed."

"Maybe slightly." Sansa stood from the bed and turned to face her sister. "Talk to him tomorrow. Feel him out, ask to hang out with him."

"Isn't that a little forward?"

Sansa gave Arya a pointed look, "You're the most forward person I have ever met, in my life. You'll figure it out."

With that, Sansa left the room and left Arya sitting on the bed, phone in hand, wondering what she was to do. Arya sat up with a sigh and looked down at her bag on the floor, now was a good a time as any. She reached down into the bag to grab the book out, she stood from her bed and pulled her bathrobe off the back of her door and made her way down the hall and into the bathroom, about to make true on her words to Gendry.

She filled the tub with warm water and began to shed her clothes, she grabbed a towel and placed it on the ground, her book and phone rested on it. Arya tested the water before climbing in, it soothed her muscles and instantly relaxed her. She slunk down into the water and sighed.

Her thoughts turned to nameless boy – to Gendry. His name was, Gendry. Her heart speed up at bit, and a low tingle formed in her belly. Gendry. Tall, handsome, Gendry. Who liked books, and comics, and was so quiet and shy. She thought of the blush that started from his neck up, she wondered if he blushed red everywhere. He seemed sweet, noble in a way. Unlike the boys that had surrounded her in high school, that used to gather around Sansa, he was different.

She looked over at the book on the floor beside her, she had a wicked idea. She picked up the book and her phone, messing around with her hair briefly to make sure she looked good. She snapped a picture of herself holding the book, making it clear that she was in a bathtub, a smirky-smile on the lip she was biting at. She put the book back down on the floor and looked at the picture she had just taken, her breasts were clearly visible in the wider framed shot. She quickly cropped it so that only the top part of her chest was seen, the swell of her cleavage visible and that was all. She was classy, afterall.

She smirked to herself as she uploaded it to Instagram, knowing that he would see it. She placed her cell phone back on the ground and instead picked back up the book, deciding to give it a go. And hoping that it would drone out the sound of Sansa's moaning.

The book was a lot dirtier than she expected, not really her jam, but whatever, it gave her something to do while she sat in the warm water. She'd probably end up giving it to Sansa later, reading the other book she'd checked out, it seemed way more her sister's speed. Eventually she stopped reading, not able to concentrate on the words in front of her. She laid back in the tub, closing her eyes and drifted off.

She wasn't sure how long she had napped it out for, but the water had grown cold around her, she sat up and stretched out before standing and draining the water out of the tub. She wrapped her robe around herself, gathering her things from the floor and headed back to her room. She could hear Sansa and Sandor down the hall, in the kitchen laughing about something as the microwave went off. It had to be around dinner time, she felt her stomach grumble loudly in conformation.

She went into her room and dressed in pajamas, even though it was still early, getting cosy. She was about to go back out into the kitchen to eat dinner with her sister and the Hound, dirty book in hand, when her phone lit up, she reached for it and clicked on the notification. He had liked her picture. She felt her heart beat faster in her chest, he had liked her picture.

Arya let the smile break out over her face, the small bubble of weird laughter spill out. She did a little excited jump, still smiling. She put her phone down, leaving it and her unabashed girly reaction with it, exiting her room and making her way down the hall into the kitchen.

She gave one last thought to the now named boy, Gendry. Thought about his otherworldly eyes, his tall frame, his awkward demeanor. Let her mind graze over how he looked today as he stared down at her, the nice rumble of his voice, his shifty, uncomfortable shyness. She would take Sansa's advice, she would talk to him, really talk to him, when she saw him next. He would be hers, it was only a matter of time until he also figured that out.

* * *

A/N: TELL ME THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE. (or, your thoughts on this chapter.)


	3. Chapter 3

He groggily pushed himself out of his warm bed, quickly turning off his alarm and standing. He stretched, thoroughly annoyed that he was awake earlier than he wanted to be. He had an early morning art class on fridays, then he put in a few hours at the shop, before going to the library a little later than normal. He basically hated fridays, and Hot Pie loved to rag on him about how un-normal he was. Gendry kind of agreed.

He made his way into the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee and popping some bread in the toaster before staggering back into his room to get dressed. He threw on some clean clothes, not really caring or looking at what was now on his body, and unplugged his phone from the nightstand before returning back into the kitchen to eat his toast and drink his coffee before he had to run to campus.

He took a moment out of his hurried morning routine to sip at his hot coffee slowly, letting his mind wander for only a few seconds before swallowing the rest of the drink quickly and grabbing his toast. He threw on his book bag and headed out of his apartment to his car, ignoring his neighbor's loud morning sex as he hurried past. His apartment building technically didn't reside in student housing, but a lot of the upper classmen that hated dorms took to the apartments just off campus. Gendry was one of them, unfortunately. He hadn't taken to dorm life as well as he'd hoped. Last year Pod and him shared a dorm, but their hall was filled with stoners and douches that only ended up getting on Gendry's last nerve. He moved out literally as soon as he was able, and only felt slightly bad about leaving Pod in the wind. He had offered to still room with him off campus, but Podrick's high strung parents weren't about that at all.

He slid into his car and prayed for minimal traffic, he lived close enough to campus that the ride was short and provided him with some leeway on waking up and leaving, but on certain days, traffic in King's Landing could be a bitch. He parked in a spot that was not at all considered close to the art building and ran through the mingling students in the parking lot to get to his class on time. Lady Shae, as her students had jokingly taken to calling the beloved professor, was understanding and compassionate, but everyone knew not to press their luck and no one wanted to be out of her favor.

He adored her, she was truly one of the best teachers he'd ever had. Professor Shae was observant and critical, but in a way that never made you feel belittled. She had a certainly quality that most teachers didn't possess, she actually gave a shit and never pretended how she felt. If she thought your work was suffering, she'd tell you. If she thought you weren't living up to your full potential, she'd let you know. And, if she thought you'd be better off in a different class, she said it in a way that didn't hurt. She raved when art was good, when it exceeded her expectations. She was a great mentor, and Gendry was astounded that he had ended up here with a teacher like her.

There was a time he hadn't been so certain that he would even be able to attend college, let alone King's College. But, here he was. Banking off his late father's estate and the scholarship he'd somehow managed to convince them to give him.

He slid into the class just as everyone was setting up their stations. He snuck back to his corner farthest away from everyone and began to pull out his pencils, charcoal, and other supplies. Professor Shae came into the room from her back office, sipping at her coffee and eyeing her students.

"No lecture today, just start working on your thumbnails for your portraits."

Her exotic accents soothed her students, even when she was being harsh she sounded soothing. He watched her sit down at her desk as he opened his portfolio and retrieved his reference pictures, starting his sketches.

He was sucked into in for a while, the drowsiness of sleep faded and his excitement and frustration kicked in as he drew. He loved to draw, always had. His mother had praised his talent, his father was gone before Gendry had picked up a pencil, his Godfather didn't get it, and that was the extent of his family. He was good at other things, he'd always been a whiz at mechanics, took to it faster than anything else. He was a quick study, read a lot, memorized even more. He was a decent writer, he supposed – but that was as complimentary as he'd be about himself when it came to those things. But, art? Well, art was his thing.

He understood art, craved it, breathed it. He sketched while he wasn't thinking, painted to calm down, used pastels because they were fun. He got excited about it, he reveled in it. He liked looking at art, discussing art, reading about art, and mostly, he lived to make art. He didn't care how indie and hipster that made him sound, because apparently it was now '_cool_' to be into arty things.

He knew there weren't many professions that he would use this degree in, knew in the back of his mind that he'd most likely end up running the shop after Tobho retired, but he had still went for it anyway. Wasted his higher education on passion instead of practicality.

He was already on his twelfth thumbnail when Professor Shae made her way over to him, scoping out her student's progress. "That's quite good, Gendry."

He looked up from his easel at her, she had a small smirky-smile on her face, different from the way Arya had done yesterday. He could feel his neck flush from her praise, "Thank you, Professor."

"What you do here, with the shading of the eyes, excellent work." He liked her accented voice praising him, even though it made him uncomfortable. She nodded at his paper before walking away, "Keep it up."

He spent the next two hours fleshing out the second round of thumbnails, moving on to the basic outline sketch of his portrait. He liked working with charcoals, which wasn't surprising seeing as his hands were generally dirty anyway, but he also enjoyed paints and pencils. Professor Shae wasn't all that strict in her teaching style, she mostly gave them free time to work on their projects that would normally have to be continued outside of class, lecturing and giving assignments in between.

Right now he was working on an assignment she had given earlier this week, they were to draw realistic portraits in black and white. It excited Gendry, he loved portraits. But, he had a feeling that Professor Shae only picked it because the class had been bitching about their distaste for new-age realism.

After his class with Professor Shae, the next two hours were spent in Art History down the hall. He willed his caffeinated art-high to stick and not fall asleep in class, as he had once or twice before. He didn't particularly mind the class or the hilarious Professor Bronn – who refused to be called by his actually unknown last name – the course was easy enough and they weren't tested often. It was mostly just a boring two hour lecture class, filled with slides and notes. The only real entertainment came from watching Bronn shamelessly flirt with his female students and listen to his snarky side comments about what they were learning.

Bronn had made it clear at the beginning of the semester that he was filling in for the normal Professor while she was on maternity leave and didn't really want to be here, at all. Forced, was the word he used most often. Blackmailed, was the one he used when he came in hungover.

Once that class had ended, Gendry made his way out of the art building, to his car, and down to the shop. He'd pick up lunch for him and Tobho on the way, as he always did on fridays. His Godfather was good to him, basically more of a father-figure to him than his own father had ever been.

Robert had left them when he was five, his parents divorcing – which really had been for the better. Robert had been a good man once, or so Tobho said, and so his mother said, he hadn't really seen it. Gendry wasn't exactly sure what to believe, he had been so little when Robert left; and just nearly after he had remarried, starting a new family, he had died. A hunting accident, of all things.

He wasn't really in touch with Robert's other family, they were aware each other existed and when Robert had died, Cersei and his mother had planned the funeral together. But, that was as far as it had went. His step-mother was a private person, he wouldn't go so far as to call her a bitch, but he wasn't taking that term off the table either. She had gotten nearly everything in the will, Robert had left the majority of his estate and savings to the blonde family he had made, but, he and his mother weren't completely left in the dust. They had gotten more than they were expecting, he remembered walking into the lawyer's office that morning expecting his late father to leave his first born son a painting of him or something bullshit like that, he had not been expecting what they had gotten.

Robert had left Cersei his actual family estate, a sprawling manor on the countryside, the rights to his company, his titles, and most of his savings. Cersei had seemed pleased at that, although he'd be lying if he said that he'd ever seen her look truly happy. It had only been her and her twin brother Jaime that had attended the meeting with their lawyer; Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen were too young at the time and had been left at home. His mother had brought him, and her lawyer had thought the same about him, but no one had said anything.

Cersei had gazed at him throughout the meeting, a wistful look in her eye. She didn't hate him, even now when he ran into the stone-faced woman or saw them on Robert's anniversary, she had never glared at him with her cold green eyes. She almost looked at him with a reserved fondness, especially now that he was older. He knew it was because he looked like Robert, something that he usually hated.

Robert had left his mother his house on the shore, a place where they had stayed many times before they were married and before him. He had also left them a trust fund, and a portion of his savings. It was enough to keep them comfortable, for his mother to not have to kill herself to raise him, and it was so much more than they were hoping for.

Robert had never been one to show outward compassion. He was boisterous and loud, always telling it like it was and never afraid to voice his thoughts or opinions. But, he was never tender or loving. His mother had told him that he'd been, once. That he had been charming and gentle, so full of love and honor. Gendry wasn't sure what had changed in him, but something had. Cersei hadn't had the sweet, caring Robert that his own mother had, and he thought that maybe as the years passed since Robert's death, the blonde might've grown to resent the man, and maybe even his mother.

Tobho had done a good job of stepping in. He had been a family friend since his mother was a little girl, if Gendry recalled correctly he had been best friends with his mother's older brother who had died during a football accident that had broken his spine. Tobho never said it, but Gendry knew that the older man felt it was his duty to his old friend to look out for his sister and her son. He also had a sneaking suspicion that his mother and his Godfather might have had a thing for each other, which made him want to crawl under a rock and throw up, but he was perceptive like that and noticed things.

He quickly pulled up to the sandwich shop and grabbed them lunch before heading straight to Tobho's.

Gendry pulled into the shop, parking in the back and going through the door back there that lead into the office. Tobho was sitting at the desk, sifting through paperwork, a pinched look on his aged face. He hated paperwork, but seeing as he was the owner and manager of Mott's Auto Repairs and Services it was his job, and his job alone. Gendry eased into the room and set the bag down on the edge of the desk, plopping down in the chair opposite his Godfather.

"About damn time you showed up." Tobho set down his pen and started digging through the bag of food, pulling out a wrapped sandwich and tossing it to Gendry. "You've got a Fiesta that needs new brake pads and a Mercedes SLS that needs a look through."

Gendry's eyes went wide at that, "Shut the fuck up."

Tobho smirked, knowing the car would get the boy's attention. "Saved it just for you, it's in lift B when you're ready."

Tobho always saved the good stuff for him, and Gendry loved him for it. It's also what helped to pay off his student loans and tuition for college, thank God nice cars needed maintenance and rich people were willing to pay top dollar for it.

"I'll do the Fiesta first and get it out of the way.

"I thought you might say that, it's already on the lift." Gendry smiled at him and bit into his sandwich. "How was school?"

Gendry gave a shrug, "Fine." That was the answer he always gave Tobho when he asked about college, and the older man accepted it. He knew that Tobho was only asking to be nice, sometimes he truly was interested, but as soon as Gendry started talking about Art History or the painting he was working on, the older man kind of ended up tuning him out. Gendry wasn't offended.

They finished eating quickly, Tobho went back to his boring paperwork and Gendry changed his clothes before he went out into the garage to get started on the little red '87 Ford Fiesta. Those cars were tiny pieces of shit that lasted years if maintained properly, this one was in fairly good condition and he could tell the owner loved the little car. He did what he could to install new brake pads, cleaning up the underside a bit for the owner, before moving on to the SLS. His fingers were itching to get under that hood.

He was good with machines, the mechanics of it just made sense to him and he was excited by it. He had done his fair share of tinkering as a child and a teen, moved on to fixing things not long after. Now his mother fondly proclaim that he could fix just about anything that he got his hands on. He didn't think that was entirely true, but he wasn't about to go against his mother.

He spent a good hour and a half under the hood of the SLS, changing the oil, checking the brake fluid, generally making sure everything was running smooth. Once he was done, Tobho even let him take it out to the back lot to test it out. Technically illegal, but super fun nonetheless.

Gendry pulled the shirt over his head and stepped out of the jumpsuit he'd put on over his clothes, wiping his face and his hands on the grease stained material. He wandered into the bathroom, washing his hands best he could, scrubbing the black from beneath his nails. It didn't always work, and more often than not it stayed, but he scrubbed anyway. He washed his face next, knowing somehow he'd managed to get it smudged on his face and really deigned to let the girls at the Library see him that way. They were weird enough as it were.

He enjoyed his time at the Library more than he had originally thought he would, the people that worked there? Not so much.

They were just... giggly.

They were girly girls or bookworms, they either stared at him or rolled their eyes at him. They both pissed him off just the same.

When the school had told him that he was given a scholarship he had been thrilled, when they told him that he had been given a working scholarship he hadn't minded in the least. But, when he'd found out that he'd be working in the campus/public library, he had almost externally face-palmed. He was quiet and bookish as it was, when Hot Pie had found out about it he hadn't let up for _weeks_ about just how poetically perfect it had been. Gendry had never punched him so hard before.

But, he liked it. He liked the library. He got free access to any books he wanted, he paid off his scholarship, and his advisor was pretty lax about most things. All in all, it was a pretty laid back experience, one that afforded him with the opportunity to talk to Arya Stark.

He felt his heart pound oddly at the thought of speaking to her, it made him only mildly nauseas.

He quickly finished up and looked at the clock, cursing at his momentary lapse in judgement which caused him to take out the SLS to the back lot for a spin and ate up his time. He redressed in his clothes from this morning hurriedly and clocked out, running out to his own car and driving downtown as quickly as he could.

He knew that he wouldn't be _late_, but he had a reputation for being early and punctual. Dependable was the word his advisor liked to use most. He really did hate to disappoint people, even though he knew that it was an inevitable part of life.

Gendry arrived on time-ish, not on time by his normal standards, but on time enough that no one would look down upon him when he walked through the door. He clocked in quickly and moved around the desk to put his things in the office when one of the girls stopped him.

"Aren't you usually early?"

He glanced at her, not really able to recall her name, she was new and kind of a bitch. He gave a small chuckle, that he was certain sounded more like a wheeze and averted his gaze. "There was some traffic, but, I'm here." He moved past her after that, not bothering to wait for her response. He didn't notice the small girl in the corner watching his every move with her large, gray eyes.

Arya tried not to seem too anxious to see him, but she was pretty positive that she was failing miserably. She had showed up here a little earlier than normal and expected to have a bit more time to prepare herself on how to approach him and what they would talk about, but she ended up having a lot more time than she originally anticipated.

He hadn't been there.

He – Gendry, the now named boy – had been no where to be found.

Which, was completely odd. She was use to seeing him in the library, use to showing up and spotting him doing something completely mundane. But, when she had arrived, he was not present. And, it was kind of putting a bummer on her plans.

Did he not work on fridays? As far as she could remember he had, which made her feel creepy for even knowing that information, but she did. So, where was he?

She ended up sitting down in her usual spot, nestling into the large armchair near the fantasy section, internally willing Harry, Frodo, Dumbledore, Gandalf, Percy, Meg Murry, Buttercup, Westley and whoever else to send some magic her way. Bran would be impressed by her knowledge of pop-culture fantasy literature if he had been around to hear her, she made a mental note to recite it for him later. She would've been impressed too if she didn't feel her stomach plummet at the thought of him not showing up today.

She had been sifting through The Girl Who Played With Fire when she heard the soft rumble of his voice speaking to a girl behind the desk, who definitely was looking at him a little more than she had to. Not that Arya could really blame the girl, Named Boy Gendry was certainly something to look at. He didn't seem to notice though and clocked in, oblivious to the way Perky Tits was giving him a once over.

He walked into the small office behind the main desk and came out a minute later sans bag and sweater. He grabbed the cart full of books and began pushing it over to the far side of the library, ignoring the girl behind the desk and her perky tits. Well, alright. Score one for Arya and Gendry, bitchy desk girl – zero.

She didn't want to seem too forward, and walk right up to him when he just walked into the building, and she certainly didn't want to seem too desperate. But, at the same time, she was excited at the prospect of talking to him, she'd thought about it all night and all this morning. She was in quite the predicament, it seemed. This is when she wished that she was more of a girl like her sister and her friends, like Robb's fiancee, God, even Ygritte was more in touch with her feminine wiles than Arya was.

She made the executive decision to pull herself from her favored armchair and make her way over to the far side of the library where Gendry stood putting away books. If she seemed forward, well then whatever. She was forward, she was Arya, she was a Stark, a wolf – better yet, a direwolf. She was known for her rash decisions and deal-with-it-later approach towards life. She was a go-getter and took what she wanted. That's how people thought of her anyway, she might as well live up to the reputation.

He was rearranging books on a shelf, his brow furrowed a bit, his blue eyes scanning each title and author quickly before placing it in a new spot on the shelf. His dark hair looked a bit tousled, like he'd run his hand through it and hadn't bothered to matt it back down. It looked cute, like him. But, he was more than just cute if she was being honest with herself. There was no way she could just stop at cute when looking at Named Boy Gendry. Underratedly handsome worked, oddly attractive fit it better.

Arya wasn't entirely sure what is what that made him so attractive to her, but he was. Was it the otherworldly hue to his ocean eyes? The strong jaw or pillowy lips? Was it his quiet, book-y demeanor and shy, blush-worthy smiles? Maybe it was as simple as his kind nature and oblivious charm. Whatever it was, it had been slowly reeling her in for two years.

He hadn't noticed her approach, they hadn't called her Arya Underfoot as a child for nothing. So, she took a moment to observe him in his natural habitat. He seemed at ease here in the library, away from prying eyes and girls with perky tits. She hoped that didn't include her.

"Hi."

His head jolted up immediately, his eyes coming to rest on hers. He managed a small smile in return for her own, his luminescent eyes lighting up as they met her gaze. She welcomed the odd thud of her heart at the sight. "Hello." He cleared his throat when he realized she wasn't going to say anything further and was happy to just sit there and watch him squirm. "Um, did you... enjoy the book?"

He immediately felt like a moron for asking that and tried exceedingly hard to quell the blush he knew would make it's way to the surface at the thought of that picture from yesterday. His eyes pulled away from hers and were fixed on a spot over her shoulder instead. _Get it together, man._

Arya shrugged a shoulder, coming to lean against the bookcase, making herself comfortable and subtly letting him know she intended to stay until she was satisfied. "Not really. BDSM erotic isn't really my scene, so I ended up giving it to my sister to read." She thought on it for a second before adding, "Not that I'm implying that my sister is into that – I mean, hey, whatever – but, I figured she'd probably enjoy it more than I would."

Gendry gave a slow nod, "Well, okay."

She smiled, "And how did you enjoy the rest of your day, Gendry?"

"Just... fine."

They were quiet for a few moments, Arya reevaluation her approach to the situation, seeing as Gendry was proving to be a tough case to crack, and Gendry pondering why he was becoming King of the Short Responses in front of Arya.

"So, how long have you worked here?" He quirked a brow and she internally died. "I see you a lot when I come, and I honestly didn't think young people could be librarians. Isn't there like some... old woman course you have to take to become one?"

"I have been known to knit a doily on occasion."

He wasn't sure why that came out of his mouth, but he didn't have time to ponder at his bad joke because Arya was laughing. Laughing at his joke. He'd made Arya Stark laugh. Whatever.

She hadn't been aware that he would be funny, clearly it was an unintentional funny, he didn't seem like the kind of guy to throw in a joke for laughs. No, he seemed like the kind of guy who said things that other people just found funny. Like her. Clearly that quip had been sarcastically intentional, but it was evident by the way he was looking at her that he hadn't expected her to find it humorous.

"Wow, and you're funny. Why were we not friends before this?" She gestured between them, a smile on her face.

Apparently they were friends now. Well, alright. He certainly wasn't about to argue with her. He shrugged a shoulder, "I don't know." He fiddled with the book in his hands, looking down at it and placing it on the shelf before turning back to her. "But to answer your previous question, I've worked here for a bit over two years. And, there's no old woman class that I'm aware of, but, then again, I'm not actually a librarian."

"Well then, what are you?"

"Student, worker, book re-cataloger." He answered jokingly.

She smiled at him, "How enthralling. What do you study?"

"Art."

For whatever reason, she hadn't been expecting him to say that. She wasn't sure what she had expected him to study in, but it most certainly hadn't been Art. He didn't seem like an Artist, but then again, at the same time, he did. The shock was clearly evident on her face from the way he was looking at her when she responded. "Really?"

He nodded, "Yup."

"What kind of art?"

He had expected her to look shocked, almost everyone did. He wasn't entirely sure why people were so shocked that he was an artist, it was like they all took one look at him and expected him to just be some undereducated mechanic – which, he kind of was, but that was besides the point. "Visual Arts."

"Well, that's cool." And she looked like she really meant it. There was this smile on her face that he couldn't quite decipher and a secret in her eyes that he couldn't quite read, but she looked like she was interested, interested in him. "And how was your day?"

She gave him that smile again, the one he couldn't read, but it wasn't bothering him as much as it normally would that he couldn't figure out what it meant. "Boring, mostly." She moved around him to look through the cart of books on his right, ignoring the way he stiffened when she neared him.

"So, you're an art student, who works in a library and knits doilies on occasion?" She paused to watch him smile, "What else do you do?"

"What do you do?" He wasn't sure where the fit of confident curiosity came from, but she didn't seem to mind the tables being turned on her. In fact, she looked like she quite enjoyed him speaking up to her.

"Well, I'm Arya, I'll be eighteen in april, I graduated high school a year early, I enjoy books, fencing, horseback riding, and most B-list horror movies. I have five siblings, I hate the heat, and I'm not really that nice." She let that sink in with him for a moment before she gave him a smirky-smile and continued on. "So, now that we're acquainted with me, tell me about you."

He could feel the blush before she could see it, only slightly annoyed by it, and gave a small chuckle at her monologue of information. He hadn't expected her to answer so rapid fire-like, and now it was his turn to do the same. He decided to take a page out of her book and not really think about it all that much – which was incredibly hard and completely unlike him, seeing as how he over-thought _everything_ – and reply to her question in the same bizarre monologue-y fashion.

"Well, ah, I'm Gendry – as you... know." He seriously tried to brush off his awkwardness and get through his conversation with her with his dignity intact. She was only a girl after all, and she wanted to talk to him. Letting that embolden him, he went on. "I'm a second year at King's College for Visual Arts, I work here and I fix cars, and I'm pretty sure we went to the same high school. Stark, right?" He watched as her eyes went wide at that information, and the nod of her head in conformation of her last name. He only felt slightly bad about pretending like he didn't know who she was before this conversation began. Slightly. "I think I was in between your sister and one of your brothers."

She was in shock.

They had went to school together?

...the _fuck_?

She looked him over once more, taking in his appearance and trying to see if she recalled him at all, and if she should be embarrassed for not recognizing him sooner. She didn't. And, there was no way that she would've forgotten him. Hell, she'd practically stalked him for two years, if they had went to high school together and she'd known who he was, she would've remembered. And then stalked him on social media like a normal person, not like this Middle Ages peek-a-boo thing they'd been doing. Clearly they must've floated in different circles, being almost three years apart, and spent time in different parts of the school while they had both attended. Because if she _had_ seen him and that sexy as fuck shy-boy act when they had been at school, she would've already lost her virginity. To him.

She nodded dumbly, "Yeah, Sansa and Jon."

He gave a nod, "Right, Jon, I remember him. He was on in ROTC, yeah?"

Arya just nodded again, completely unsure of how to wrap her head around the fact that Named Boy Gendry remembered her from high school. Her, a sophomore when he was a senior. And she didn't even know they had attended at the same time. "Yeah, he went on to do Border Patrol work up at the Wall. That's where he is now."

"Damn." Gendry stated, impressed. It was cold up there, he was a Southern boy, there was no way he'd be able to handle cold like that, it took balls. "Can't be easy."

Arya gave a shrug, both more comfortable now that the topic reached past the two of them. "It's not, but, it's all he's ever wanted to do, so he's happy." She leaned her back flush against the bookcase behind her, shoving her hands into her pockets, "Do you have any siblings?"

It was an innocent question, one that if asked to anyone else, would've been completely normal. But, he wasn't sure how to answer that. He was never sure. Technically the answer was, yes. He had three half siblings, that he barely saw or spoke to. "Not really." She quirked a brow at his odd answer and he could see she was about to open her mouth and ask about it further, so he quickly cut her off. "So, you like, books?"

Cue face-palm.

But, she smiled at him regardless. "I do. I'm sure you figured that out with me coming in here so much."

"And here I thought it was for my charming personality."

The more he spoke, the more she realized just how self-deprecating he was. She wasn't sure if it was out of humor, or genuine low self-esteem.

"Oh, it is. But, also for the books." She sent a smirky-smile his way and let her eyes linger on his intense blue ones. She eyed him again, through slightly narrowed eyes, trying to assess him more. "How old are you?" It didn't matter how old he was, he could be thirty and she'd still want to sleep with him, but she was itching to know his actual age. And, anything else about him that she could coax out.

"Twenty." She nodded, but said nothing more. He looked her over, enjoying her casually disheveled look today, and still finding her the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. "Why?"

She shook her head, "Just wondering. You look older."

He shrugged a shoulder, "I get that sometimes." It was usually people who came into the shop, and usually when he had his shirt off and was covered in grease, but he didn't tell her that.

She was giving him that look again, that look he couldn't read. He could see some sort of wheels turning in her head, but being un-privy to that information, he had no idea what about. He just watched her grey eyes narrow slightly as they swept over him, leaving goosebumps in their wake. He felt like a girl. Like a stupid, poetic girl. He internally sighed.

"What's your last name?"

She couldn't help but ask him, because now that she was close enough to see the fullness of his dark eyelashes and the cut of his strong jaw, she felt like she knew him. Like he looked achingly familiar somehow. And not just in the I've-been-watching-you-for-years kind of way, either.

He looked uncomfortable with the question, like, out of any question she could've asked him – outside of blush-worthy sexual innuendos – this was the one that bothered him. How odd. But, he answered her.

"Uh, Waters." He paused, thinking it over and deciding on something else. "Baratheon. Waters-Baratheon. But, I usually just go by Waters."

Her mouth dropped open in shock a bit, her hands coming up to wave in front of her. "Wait, wait. You're a Baratheon?"

That was it! She knew that he looked familiar. She tried recalling the picture that her Dad use to have hanging in his study, which – now that she thought about it – was still hanging in his study. He had been best friends with the older two Baratheon's growing up – Robert and Stannis if she remembered correctly. Now she knew why it had been tugging at the back of her mind for the last hour, he must've been Stannis' kid, now that she knew he was a Baratheon, she'd recognize those too-blue eyes from the many pictures in her family home.

His brows furrowed at the question, "Yeah?"

"My Dad was was good ole pals with the older two." She smiled up at him in disbelief, "What a weird coincidence."

He opened his mouth to say more when a heavy arm dropped across his broad shoulders and tore his gaze away from Arya. He silently cursed to himself as his gaze fell upon his best friend. _Former _best friend, because he already knew this wasn't going to end well, and that he was most likely going to end up embarrassed. He sent Hot Pie a steely look, but the other boy was too busy giving Arya a once over and smiling at her a little too wide.

"Hey, Gen. Thought I'd stop by and see what my best friend was up to." Gendry could already feel his blood begin to boil. "Who's this?"

Gendry cut to Arya quickly, shoving Hot Pie off of him, "You can ignore him, I usually do."

"Fuck off, Waters. I was speaking to the lady."

"I'm not a lady." They both turned to look at Arya, who was standing in front of them with a smirky-smile on her lips and her grey eyes slightly narrowed. "You best do well to remember that."

Gendry started to flush and was tempted to avert his gaze from her intense one, but found that he couldn't. He held her gaze, knowing that he was starting to blush as she subtly bit the inside of her lower lip.

Hot Pie ruined the moment, by elbowing Gendry. "I like her." He stretched out his hand towards her, "Hot Pie."

Her eyes crinkled at the nickname she didn't understand, but said nothing about it as she shook his hand. "Arya."

Hot Pie's eyes went wide, a bemused smile frozen on his face as he turned to look at Gendry, who in turn was giving him a look that clearly said, _Don't_. And it was clear that Hot Pie had no intention of listening. "So, you're Arya."

She just smiled and gave a little nod, "I am."

"Wow." He shook his head, chuckling a bit, looking between Gendry and Arya, that hilarious, frozen smile still in place. "So you're the Arya that Gendry has been moaning about for so long – "

"Alright, alright, alright." Gendry pushed the shorter boy away from him and gave Arya a forced smile from behind his blushing face. Throwing an arm around Hot Pie's shoulders, just a little too forcefully, he started to push him away. "Isn't it time you went back to work."

"Ow, dude, how about you let up a bit." He ducked under Gendry's arm to smile at Arya, who was trying really hard to hold in her laughter at the situation. "Guess I should get going, nice to meet you Arry." She didn't bother correcting him, instead just letting out a bark of a laugh and walking over to where the pair stood – Gendry's arm still basically holding Hot Pie in a headlock. He let him go at her approach.

"It was nice to meet you too, Hot Pie." She looked up into Gendry's unreal eyes and smiled, the laughter still dancing in her pair of grey. "I actually have to go pick up my younger brothers, I didn't realize how late it was." She held out her hand in front of him, "Do you have a phone?"

"Uh, yeah." He just nodded dumbly and pulled out his cellphone from his back pocket and laid it in her outstretched palm. She kept her gaze on his until she looked down at the phone in her hands, entering her name and number, before handing it back to him.

"Text me, we'll hang out when you're free."

It almost sounded like a demand more than a question, he didn't care. Arya had just given him her number. She wanted to see him outside of this fucking library. Was this a damn joke? He was about to reply when Hot Pie beat him to it.

"You should come over to Gendry's place tomorrow, if you're not busy. We usually hangout there on the weekends, beats the fucking dorms any day."

He could literally fucking kill Hot Pie. It wouldn't even be that hard, it'd actually come pretty easy to him. What the hell was he thinking? She probably thought they were creepy now and wanted to gang-bang her, or something equally as not great. Fuck. Hot Pie had just ruined his chance with the girl he'd been pining after since forever practically, all because he couldn't, for one moment, not try to embarrass him.

"We?"

Apparently the whole apartment with dudes she just basically met thing didn't bother her, she was just curious about the mention of a third party? Who was this girl? Should he be worried that she wasn't weirded out? No, Arya Stark probably went to house parties and ragers all the time – not that his place tomorrow night would be considered a house party or a rager, but, whatever.

"Oh, yeah, our other friend Podrick. He's pretty lame, but we like him anyway." Hot Pie replied.

She laughed at Hot Pie's rude explanation of the other person and brought her eyes back up to Gendry's. "Well, if you don't mind some tits crashing your party, then I'd love to."

Hot Pie smirked and opened his mouth to say something – more than likely inappropriate when Gendry cut him off with a swift elbow to the ribs. "Oh, Gendry won't mind at all – ow!"

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then." Arya smiled at the two of them, her eyes resting again on Gendry, she bit at her lower lip softly as their eyes connected. "Text me."

She walked past them, retrieving her things from the armchairs and sidling out the library with a smile on her face and a little more swing to her hips, knowing he was watching her walk away. Gendry did watch her leave, and he did watch her ass she she sauntered out of the building, only coming to look back at Hot Pie after she'd walked out the door.

"_Dude_."

"Shut up." Gendry moved back to the cart full of books, ignoring the phone that was burning a hole through his back pocket, his fingers itching to text her like she'd asked. He cut Hot Pie off again, rounding on him. "Why did you invite her to _my_ apartment tomorrow?"

Hot Pie just rolled his eyes, "Please, I knew you'd be too pussy to do it, and I saw the _fuck me_ eyes she was giving you – you're welcome, by the way."

Gendry scoffed, "She was not giving me _fuck me_ eyes."

"Uh, yeah dude, she was. Trust me, I watch enough porn to know."

Gendry sent him a disgusted face, totally not wanting to even think about Hot Pie and porn, at all. "She probably thinks we're desperate losers."

"Uh, we _are _desperate losers."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but I don't want her to think so!"

"Dude, who cares? She's hot as fuck, she's funny, and she's totally into you! I did you a favor, so when she's like, throwing you down and having her naughty way with you, just think about that. You're welcome." He just pushed Hot Pie's shoulder, causing the shorter boy to stumble. "Hey, can I speak at your wedding and tell this story? The story of how I hooked you two up? Hey, look at me, I'm like a sex cupid."

Gendry just closed his eyes and sighed deeply, and wishing – not for the first time – that he'd saved some other kid on the playground instead of the oaf next to him.

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A/N: Thank you all so much to everyone who has taken their time to review, favorite, follow, and PM this story! You are angels, so blessed be! On a side note, I aim to please, and some of you have had funny suggestions about this story. I'm all for it! If there's some certain characters you'd like to see doing something particular in this story, let me know and I'll see if I can make it happen. I love what you guys are offering, keep it up. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, GUYS.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: A really big thank you to all of those who've reviewed, favorited and followed, you guys are champions. Also, a special big thanks to **Leopold846** for being so witty and awesome, and helping me with this chapter. He's great. Tell me your thoughts, guys!

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Arya slid into her car and shot off a text to Bran, letting him know that she was on her way, before pulling out of the Library parking lot and calling her closest friend. She'd talk to Sansa when she got home, right now she wanted to scream at Brienne.

It was basically her favorite pastime and hobby.

She had met the older girl when she'd first taken up fencing when she was nine. Their High School had offered it as a club, but she had to be at least thirteen before she could actually join the team. Which, of course, made Arya furious. So, in spite of not being old enough to try out, she had made her father go and find her a place to train at after school. Forel's made her a title winning champion, but Brienne had made her competitive enough to win them.

She had been the best on the team before Arya, and she continued to be one of the best fencers Arya had ever met. Without her guidance and quiet tenacity, Arya wouldn't have become as great as she was, even Syrio agreed. They had become close friends after Syrio had made the two of them partners, forcing them to train together, despite their attitudes. Prior to that, they had basically strongly disliked one another, mostly for both being so good. But, that all changed when Arya was eleven and Brienne was fourteen, when they became the unstoppable duo. It was cheesy and lame, but it made Arya smile when she thought of awkward younger duo fist pumping at how awesome they were after they'd won match together.

In any case, they'd remained close friends, and Brienne was one of Arya's only female friends – that she could stand, anyway. She knew the older blonde wouldn't actually care that she'd scored a semi-date with the Unnamed Boy, now Named Boy Gendry, and most certainly wouldn't want to listen to Arya ramble on about wanting to lick him, but she called Brienne anyway. Because that's what friends do. Or, at least that's what Arya assumed _girlfriends _did.

She bounced in her seat, listening to ring after ring, knowing that Brienne wasn't in class right now and getting antsy at her not answering. But, right before the call went to voicemail, she picked up. "Hello?"

"Oh my god."

"Arya?"

"You're literally going to die."

"You never use the word literally right. You literally always misuse it."

"I can't even talk about it properly. _I'm _going to die."

"What is happening right now?"

Arya stopped at a red light and readjusted the phone in her lap, hardly containing her excitement. Brienne wasn't girly by any means, beating even Arya by a landslid in the category of Basically Butch, which is why Arya took immense pleasure at the older girl's discomfort when it came to boys, and sex, and nudeness. It was just too easy, and way too much fun. Now she knew how Ygritte use to feel about Sansa.

"Brienne."

"Arya." She mimicked.

"I think I kind of have a date with Gendry."

"Who the fuck is, Gendry?"

Arya rolled her eyes, "Unnamed boy, from the library. His name is, Gendry. Moving on," She honked the horn at some dick that cut her off, holding back a curse. "Come on!"

"Are you... are you driving right now?"

"Uh, yeah." She responded casually.

She ignored Brienne's exasperated sigh and her moral... _rightness_ or whatever. Her friend was a little bit of a stickler for the rules, and a moral compass, and a tad bit prudish. She loved Brienne all the same, but she wasn't about to sit through one of her twenty minute lectures when they had _fucking yes_ Gendry to talk about.

"Arya, you know how I feel about you calling me while you're driving. What if you got into an accident and died while on the phone with me? How do you think I'd feel for the rest of my life knowing that I had caused your death?"

Arya rolled her eyes again at her friend's very liberal use of dramatics on the situation. "Oh, please, Brie. Save me the dramatics this time around, we have Gendry to talk about."

"But seriously, who the fuck is Gendry?" Arya made an agitated noise, and she could see Brienne rolling her eyes, and sighing, and shaking her head. "Okay. Fine. Gendry?"

"Yes, Gendry."

"Is the guy at the library you've been stalking – "

"I don't know if it technically constitutes as stalking, because we're in a library, but, whatever."

"The fact you're defending yourself about it being stalking, makes me more sure it was actually stalking," Brienne countered.

"Forget the stalking – "

"So it was stalking!"

" – and listen to me!

"Fine," Brienne sighed, Arya just knew the bitch was rolling her eyes at her. "Alright, now you may, sort of, have a date with him?"

"Correct."

"Okay."

Okay? All Brienne had to say was "Okay."? Arya may have been literally stalking this guy and all Brienne had to say was Oh, Kay?

"Okay? That's it? That's all I get?"

"Well, what do you want, Arya? I don't know anything about him."

"Uh, yes you do! He's fuck hot, shy as shit, and his basically my dream on legs."

Brienne sighed, "That's very informative."

She ignored Brienne's sarcasm. "So, we've been flirting – I think – well, I've been flirting at him – "

"How do you flirt _at_ someone?"

" – and today I found out he's an Art major _and_ a Baratheon."

"Wow." She said dryly.

Arya ignored her and carried on, "I know. And then his weird friend interrupted us and invited me to Gendry's apartment tomorrow night."

"To do what?" Brienne sounded skeptical, she hated when Brienne sounded skeptical. It meant she already had an idea in her head. "Be gang raped?"

"That's really intense. I was just kind of thinking hanging out, or something, but I guess your idea is good too."

Brienne scoffed and sputtered, "You know that's not what I meant. What do you really even know about them? And you're just gonna go to their apartment, alone?"

"Well, technically I think it's just Gendry's apartment – "

"That sounds a little suspect, Arya."

Arya rolled her eyes, "Thanks, Mom."

Brienne sighed, "It's my job to worry over you. Benjen pays me good money to do it."

She sighed, "I hate you."

"I know." The older girl chuckled, "But in all seriousness, I'm happy for you. I just want you to be safe is all."

Arya knew that Brienne was just looking out for her, that her friend was just being realistic about the situation. And, she was right. Arya didn't know Gendry as well as she might pretend that she did, she actually didn't know him at all. She didn't know his friends, she didn't know where he lived, she knew nothing.

But, she knew that he was a good person. She just knew.

"I know, Brie. And I thank you for it. But, you haven't seen his face. You could get pregnant just from looking at it. He should have to wear a ski mask or something so he doesn't knock up all the women around him."

"And, there it is."

She laughed at Brienne's snarky response, continuing on with her tirade of inappropriate comments to rile her up. "He's so fit, like I literally just want to tackle him to the ground and ride him."

"Arya Stark!"

"What? I'm just talking about sex, Brie, nothing to blanche about." She pulled into the Middle School parking lot, weaving about soccer moms as she went. "I'm at the school, I'll call you later?"

"Hopefully while you're not driving."

"Fuck off."

"Suck me." Brienne replied, causing a laugh to rip from Arya's chest. They hung up after that, a sort of usual way for them to say good bye.

She pulled up to the steps, knowing that it made Bran extra cranky when she did it – already annoyed that he had to go wait with his younger brother in front of the Middle School instead of the High School – and smiled wide at her little brothers. "Hi, guys!" Bran just scowled and flipped her off as he got in her front seat, Rickon jumping in the back. "Well, fuck you too, then."

Rickon just smirked at her from the back, knowing that it pissed off Bran when they both were extra cheery when he was in a pissy mood. "Hi, Arya!"

"Hi, Rickon! How was your lovely day?"

"Just lovely!"

"Lovely!"

"Is there a way I can kill myself with a notebook?" Bran countered sourly from beside her.

"Hey," She gave him a sideways glance as she pulled onto the main road and headed home. "What's got your goat, Birdie?"

He didn't scowl at the nickname, which meant it wasn't actually something serious and he was just being crotchety. He just sighed and sunk back further in his seat, his dark eyes focused on the road in front of them. "Nothing."

"Yeah, right." Rickon mumbled from the back, his gaze intently connected to the game he was playing on his cell phone.

"Shut up about things you don't know, Rickon."

"Well, _I know_ that you're being a dick."

"Hey, language, buddy." She gave Rickon the eye from the rearview mirror. He just rolled his own blue eyes in response to her scold.

She took a second, a real long second, to just look at them for a moment. When had they gotten so grown? How was it that her baby Rickon was already in the seventh grade, officially a teenager? And Bran, who was in dire need of a haircut, was all knowledgable and bright and top of his tenth grade class. When had this happened?

Bran had clearly taken her silence as waiting for him to spill it – which, she was. She knew that it wouldn't take long for him to crack if it wasn't something seriously important that he was trying to smuggle down. He sighed, but refused to look at her. Stubborn, like she was. She bit back a smile.

"I think Meera's going on a date."

"Okay."

"With guy."

"Yeah, pretty much figured."

Bran turned to look at her then, his dark eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. He looked so much like Robb when he was annoyed, it sometimes freaked her out. "A guy that's not me."

She took a deep breath, this was dangerous territory he had her treading in now. This was usually Sansa's expertise, considering her experience was pretty minimal on the subject, but sometimes Bran surprised her and came to her for advice concerning his feelings for the pretty girl. Apparently now was one of those times. The little shit always caught her when she was totally unprepared to have gracious and thought-provoking insight to females and relationships. She wasn't Sansa, and he knew that, but she'd still try.

"Well, you two aren't dating." He looked away when she said that. "And, you haven't exactly told her how you feel. So, you can't be too upset when she goes with other guys." She made a left and looked back at him. "Does Jojen know?"

He balked, "Does my best friend know that I'm in love with his sister? Uh, no, he does not."

"Maybe you should tell him. Or her. Or both of them."

"Or maybe I should just go join Jon on the Wall and jump off."

"Or, that." He cracked a smile as she agreed with him, which made her smile too. "She's just a girl, Bran. A girl you've been friends with for a lot longer than most people in your grade will care about the people their with. If you like her that much, just... show her." She gave him a sweet smile and reached over and buried her hand in his long hair. "You are one special man, Brandon Stark. And if Meera can't see that, then there's some other pretty _Track & Field_ star out there for you."

"Whatever." He replied, but there was a small, but sweet smile on his face, and his eyes were no longer narrowed. He looked like her calm and cool younger brother again, instead of the angry gremlin who'd replaced him there for a few moments. They were almost home when Rickon casually exclaimed, "I have a girlfriend."

Arya lifted a brow in the rearview and Bran turned around to face him, a skeptical look on his face. "Oh, you do, do you?"

"Yeah." Rickon shrugged, not looking up from the game he was playing on his phone. "But, we're taking it slow. She's inexperienced."

Bran scoffed, "Oh, and you are?"

"More than you."

"Fuck off, you are not."

"I've kissed a girl."

"So have I, you little shithead."

"Who have you kissed?" Arya asked in disbelief.

Rickon looked up, all casual and cool. He was so going to be the mini-Jon of the family, the little heartbreaker. "Vanya Poole."

"Jeyne's cousin? You've kissed Jeyne Poole's cousin?" She gave a side eye to Bran, "She's turned into such a slut at college, by the way."

"So is her cousin." Rickon said casually, looking back down at his phone.

"Ugh. No." Arya turned to Bran to find that they were both wearing appalled, grossed out faces at the news. "Well, just... stop kissing sluts." Arya clearly always had a wealth of thoughtful advice for her brothers.

"I can't make any promises that they won't want to kiss me."

"Where do you come from?" Bran exclaimed, still turned around in his seat facing their younger brother.

Arya pulled up to the large house, the biggest on their small street, just outside of town. She turned off the car, jumping out with the boys to go say hello to Robb and Benjen if they were home. Their Uncle lived at the house, Benjen taking his retirement from the wall and living off his pension while he raised them after Ned and Cat had passed. He had been a good replacement in their absence, just what they'd needed, although no one could ever fill their places. Robb had done a spectacular job too, being the oldest and all. He still hung around, spent the night at least once a week and helped make dinner or breakfast some days. But, he had a fiance now, and an apartment, and a real person job, and a life. She was happy for her older brothers, but, she missed them as well. She couldn't really be mad though, she hadn't been around that much either.

"Hello?" Arya called as they entered the house.

"Hey!" Robb stuck his head down over the railing of the upper level and smiled down at his little sister. She hadn't seen Robb in a while, mostly because she'd been holed up at the SanSan compound, ignoring everyone that wasn't Gendry and her sister, basically. She felt a little bad, a little. Bran and Rickon pushed past her and into the house, throwing their bags on the kitchen counter and rummaging through the fridge. Robb made his way downstairs, all charming smiles and curly hair, that's what her brother was and always would be. "What's going on, Nym? We haven't seen you in a while."

She hugged her brother back, letting him lift her and pull her close before setting her down like a little rag doll, just as he had done when she had been a little girl. She said nothing of his old nickname for her that he still refused to let die. Nymeria, the Rhoynar Warrior-queen. He had taken to calling her that since she was small, all feisty and biting, the name had just kind of stuck. And while she hadn't always liked being called Nymeria, she had liked the name and the origin so much that she had named her Direwolf after it – which, also might've been a small subconscious effort to get Robb to stop calling her it. Spoiler alert: It hadn't worked.

"I know, sorry. I've been busy doing nothing over at Sansa's." She wasn't even going to pretend to lie about her not coming over, Robb appreciated her caviler nature anyway. "So, where's Jeynie?"

Robb rolled his eyes and walked with her into the kitchen. "You know she hates when you call her that."

"Well, then how am I suppose to tell her apart from the other Jeyne you slept with?" She asked innocently.

Robb scoffed and attempted to jump off the subject. "That was one time! Are you guys ever going to let that go?"

Arya shook her head and sat down at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, "Absolutely not. What will we talk about to embarrass you, then?"

He just pushed at her head and plucked a soda from the fridge, taking a sip before giving it to her. "Jeyne is fine, by the way. She's coming over for dinner later if you guys want to come."

"I gotta see what the SanSan is up to before I make group decisions – they don't like when I do that."

Robb snorted, "I don't either."

"Wait," Arya excitedly held up her hands, "Let's go back to the Slutty-Poole topic for a second. Did you know that Rickon is going around kissing Vanya Poole?"

Robb just chuckled, "Good one."

"No, I'm serious!"

"The fuck?" He leaned over to get a good look at Rickon lounging on the couch, "_He's_ making out with Slutty-Poole's cousin?"

"Who apparently is also a slut."

"Does that just like, run in their family?"

"Like snarky-ness runs in ours, I guess."

"Wow. Rickon, my man."

Arya pushed at her brother's broad shoulder. "No, no, don't encourage him. We don't need anymore of that going on here, thank you."

Robb just rolled his eyes, "Come on, Arya. He's thirteen, he's probably kissing who ever will let him."

"Robb, just... no." Not only were her baby brothers too young to be kissing, it was just plain wrong that they were getting more action than she was lately. She looked around, "Where's Benjen, anyway?"

"He's at the grocery store." He smirked-smiled, "He goes in there a lot these days, I think he may be seeing that woman, Cherrie, from the pharmacy."

"Ugh, nightmare."

"Tell me about it."

She sat there for a few moments, smiling in the presence of her brother and enjoying the small moment with him. She'd always found herself closer to Jon, just as Sansa had been closer with Robb, but he was still her brother, and she still loved him. And, they were close, especially now.

"Well, let me go see what SandySan wants to do for dinner. I'll call you."

Robb smirked and nodded. "Alright."

She had honestly been totally and completely shocked when Robb had basically calmly accepted Sansa and Sandor's relationship status. He hadn't really even blinked an eye when Sansa told him who she had been seeing for the past six months and who was now officially her boyfriend. Robb had told her, whatever made her happy and sane. The two men got along better than Arya had expected, and better than Sansa too. They weren't really alike, they didn't really have anything in common, but whenever there were family functions or barbeques, the two of them were always manning the food and beer, laughing and talking. She thought it was so strange how much Robb now liked the Hound, but, then again, it was literally any day now that the two would get engaged, maybe he was just helping out the inevitable.

Arya yelled goodbye to her two other brothers and left her childhood house,that felt just a little too empty now that the majority of them had flown away. She pushed the heavy thought from her chest as she got into the car and headed home, to Sansa's.

She didn't call Brie back, deciding to put her iPod on shuffle and just sing along to the random songs at top volume, trying to push the uncomfortable thoughts of her parents out of her chest. Not even the thought of cute-boy Gendry could make the pressure reside, so she chose to turn her car stereo up louder and sing along like she was in the shower all the way to the apartment. When she pulled up, she felt better, calmer, the pressure had left. She unplugged her phone and went inside.

Arya walked into the apartment and found, for once, not the sounds of Sansa's sexual escapades blaring through the house, but instead to the sounds of something far, far worse. Old nineties Top Forty hits, presently the Spice Girls, were blasting from the stereo system as she pushed the door closed behind her and entered the living room. Wine bottles were open on the coffee table, half-drunk glasses beside them, and _How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days_ playing muted on the television.

And her sister? Well, she was jumping up and down on that damn grey Ikea couch – that Sansa, Sandor, and herself had all tried to figure out how to assemble together – with Ygritte, sloppily screaming along to the words of _Spice Up Your Life_.

"Are you two drunk?"

"Arya!" Ygritte jumped off the couch and sashayed over to where Arya stood by the door and grabbed at her arms, hips swaying, pulling her over to the couch where Sansa was still laughing and jumping. "Come dance with us!"

"Look who came for a visit!" Her sister excitedly exclaimed, pointing down to the redhead who had Arya's hands held above their heads, attempting to make her dance. "And, she brought wine!"

"Sweet wine!"

"From up North!"

"Is this a joke or something?" Arya couldn't help but laugh at her drunk older sister and her drunk brother's girlfriend/basically-her-sister. "90s music, bad RomComs, northern wine? At," She looked over at the clock on the wall. "Three-thirty on a friday afternoon?"

"Looks like it." Replied Ygritte as she jumped back up on the couch with her glass in hand, chugging it all in one go. Sansa just kept jumping and screaming the words she knew by heart.

"Classy."

"Oh, come on, Arya. Lighten up for once."

Arya's jaw dropped. "Me? Lighten up? I'm the cool one, you're the one whose always so uptight."

"Here." Ygritte thrust a glass into her hands. "Drink that and shut up."

"You know, Robb wanted us over for dinner tonight. _Jeynie_ is coming."

Sansa rolled her light eyes, "Please." Ygritte just snorted in return. "Besides, Ygritte is here. It would be rude of us to pick one sister-in-law over the other."

Arya's brows furrowed at Sansa's lack of logic. "Isn't that exactly what you're doing."

"Westerling can fuck off. She gets you two all the time, I'm visiting, I have rights!"

Arya just shook her head and took a sip of the sweet wine. She let it linger in her mouth before it flew down her throat, her mouth puckering a bit at it's strength. Yup, that was northern wine, alright. "Well, can we at least turn this shit down a little?"

Not that she didn't love bad-good 90's gems as much as the next girl, but at the ear splitting volume it was cranked up to, she'd have to pass. Sansa rolled her eyes and plopped down on the couch, grabbing the remote for the iHome docked in the corner and turned the volume down a bit, Ygritte coming to sit down on the arm of the couch, leaving room for Arya in between them. She nestled in, sipping at the wine in her hands, watching some cheesy part in the movie where Matthew McCoughna-no-shirt and Kate Hudson were laughing uproariously at something. She wondered vaguely what it would be like to be in a Romantic Comedy, all smiley and dashing, and melodramatic, with perfect hair and shiny eyes. It probably blew.

"So, Ygritte, what brings you down from upstate?"

"Mom's birthday." She took a few Oreos from the tray on the coffee table and began to eat them quickly, like she was being timed. "It was yesterday, but I figured while I was down here I'd check up on you guys, for Jon."

"How sweet of you." She pulled a cookie from her hand and popped it into her mouth, savoring the delicious crack-like sensation that eating an Oreo brought on. She liked chocolate – like normal human did, mind you, while Sansa favored Lemon. The psycho. She looked down at the other half of the cookie before turning to her sister and gesturing to it. "Is this dinner?"

"I'll order pizza."

Arya was about to respond that she wasn't going to eat any of that weird shit Ygritte preferred when her phone vibrated in her back pocket. "Hey-oh." was Ygritte's only response to the noise, Sansa just lifted a perfectly sculpted brow. The fuck? Why was Sansa looking at her like she didn't have friends? Like her getting a text was strange? She had friends, plenty of them, and they texted all the time. Brienne was the only one that came to mind, but, that wasn't the point.

She pulled out her phone as Destiny's Child came on the shuffled playlist, causing the two older girls to yell and sing along – loudly. Whenever Ygritte came around Arya was usually sucked into some kind of bizarre world stuck in 1998, probably hosted by Carson Daily. Shaking her head, she looked down at her phone and noticed the text was from an unknown number, which caused her stomach to tighten and her breathing quicken slightly.

_Hey, this is Gendry. From the Library. Hello._

She felt her mouth pull up into a wide grin as she saved his number and responded back. _This is Arya. Live from my living room, it's Friday Night._

"What are you smiling about?"

"Yeah? Whose that text from? She wouldn't be smiling like that if it was from Brie or the boys." Sansa gasped, her eyes going wide, her pale cheeks a bit red from all the wine she'd consumed. "Is that the boy? Is that, Gendry?"

"Who the fuck is, Gendry?"

"Why does everyone keep doing that?" Arya shook her head before turning back to Sansa. "Yes, it's Gendry."

"I'll rephrase; Who the fuck is Gendry?"

Arya rolled her eyes, a little annoyed that Ygritte and Brienne were having the same reaction to this news. Like, what? "He's this guy – "

"This super cute guy that works at the Library Arya frequents."

Arya turned to look at her sister, "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to continue to tell the story of _my_ life?"

Sansa rolled her eyes and pushed at Arya's shoulder, settling back into the couch. "Well sorry for being excited for you."

"Okay, continue please. Tell me who the fuck this Gendry guy is."

"What Sansa said. He's this guy who works at the library."

"And?" Ygritte dragged out.

"And, nothing. He's a fucking hot guy who works at the library." Arya responded, picking up some more cookies.

"With your number." Ygritte plucked one of the cookies from her hands in retaliation for her stolen cookie. "And how did he come by your number?"

"I gave it to him."

"Arya!" Sansa squealed happily beside her. "When? Today?"

"Yup." She nodded, casually acting caviler when she was actually excited was something she did well. She wasn't sure why she did it, but, she did. "I started a conversation with him, we talked about shit and... things just flowed. So I gave him my number." She took another sip of her wine.

Sansa pushed at Arya sloppily in her slight drunk excitement. "Shut up!"

"And, guess what." She turned to her sister and waited for her to try and guess. "He's a Baratheon."

"No fucking way." Sansa looked astonished. "Seriously, no fucking way!"

"No, he is. He must be Stannis' kid or something, but still. How crazy is that?"

"Arya, what are the odds." She shook her head in awe.

"He also invited me to his apartment tomorrow." Ygritte raised a brow and Sansa tilted her head. "Well, _he_ didn't, technically. His friend did, but I guess they're hanging out tomorrow night and invited me to come."

"Are you gonna go?" Ygritte asked as she took another sip of her wine.

She looked between the two older girls, feeling not for the first time like she was back in school taking a test she wasn't sure how to pass. "I guess?"

"You should totally go."

"Absolutely." Ygritte agreed.

"I should?"

Sansa looked at her like she had three heads. "Uh, yes you should. The guy you've liked for two years invited you to a party at his place. Of course you should go."

Arya looked to Ygritte who nodded, "She's right."

"And, there will be other people there, so you don't have to worry about feeling uncomfortable." She wasn't entirely sure if the weird kid Hot Pie and the unknown Podrick could be considered _other people that would make her feel comfortable_, but, whatever. Gendry didn't seem like the kind of dude to have a pit in his basement where he left girls for days, Hot Pie on the other hand... "And, it would be the perfect way to get to know more about him."

"Wait, you've liked this guy for two years?" Ygritte asked, as though it had just hit her.

"Yeah?"

"You're telling me that you've wasted two years staring at this guy instead of mounting him like a noble steed?" The face she got from Sansa made Ygritte roll her eyes and amend her statement, "Or at least say 'Hi' to him, or something?"

"Well," Sansa started, her face scrunched up as she disagreed with Ygritte's prior statement. "I don't know if you should exactly sleep with him yet. I mean, you do have class."

Ygritte rolled her matching blue eyes, "Please, don't listen to the girl that use to be Stuck-up Barbie with a matching Douchebag Ken."

"Hey!" Arya piped up with a shitty grin. "Don't say that about Sandor!"

"Thank you, Arya!" Sansa looked very pleased and Arya almost didn't want to say her joke. Almost.

"If he's an action figure, he's probably like one of Cobra Commander's henchmen or something."

"Arya!"

"Yeah," Ygritte giggled, "Sansa is fucking like Storm Shadow or something." Arya high fived her and she smirked, "But, I was talking about Joff-Joff."

"Oh, yeah." Arya scrunched up her face and shook her head in agreement. "Fuck that guy."

Sansa's mouth dropped open in appall, pointing to the redhead. "Yeah, well, she made her way through the entire Archery team once! Let's talk about that!"

Ygritte just looked away and smiled fondly, "I did."

"Guys, thanks, but I think I've got it handled." She looked back down at her phone, wondering why Gendry wasn't texting her back. Had he not thought her _Saturday Night Live!_ joke was funny? "Can we watch something other than this bullshitery?"

"Fine, but nothing scary or action-y. This is a girls night, and we will do it properly."

She turned to her sister, "Where's the Hound?"

"Oh, I sent him away." Ygritte said lazily from beside her.

"More like he went away completely willing." Sansa scoffed, "He took one look at the wine and popcorn Ygritte brought over and hightailed it out of here for an impromptu band practice."

"Lovely." Arya flipped through Netflix to find something that would appease all of them. She settled on the late 90's gem, _10 Thing I Hate About You – _it was still in the theme of what she had unwittingly walked into, still RomCom-y, but staring at Heath Ledger's beautiful face would make up for any cheese they'd encounter. "This is what's happening."

"Perfection." Ygritte slid down on the couch next to Arya, smushing her in between the two of them. "Let's order that pizza already."

"It's like, four o'clock." Ygritte just gave Sansa a sideways glare before her sister relented. "Fine." She took Arya's cell phone from her hand and ordered pizza from the pizzeria in town, they ordered from there all the time – and they always got the same delivery boy, because one time Sansa answered the door in a robe.

They muted the music and watched the movie, talking over it while still paying mild attention to the movie they'd all seen many times. Ygritte was braiding Arya's hair when the doorbell rang for the pizza, the gawky teenage boy smiling bright when Sansa answered the door and retrieved the pizza from him. Arya was on her third slice when a thought struck her.

"Wait, shit, what should I wear tomorrow?" The thought struck her like lightening – which, made her feel even weirder considering she really didn't care about this shit usually.

"Something sexy." Ygritte picked up another slice from the box and looked down at Arya from where she was placed on the floor in front of them.

"Well, sexy but modest – to keep him guessing."

"I think you're overplaying it Sans, he knows that she wants him, she should make it a little more obvious."

"I disagree, I think she should definitely dress to impress, but keep it low key enough that he's not suspicious. I mean, there are going to be other guys there, we don't want her to end up raped or something!"

"Geez, kill my buzz why, don't you. Nobody is saying she should dress like a slut, just, you know, show him that you're making the effort." Arya had never been more confused in her life. "And, do you really think his "friends" will show?"

"What do you mean?" Arya asked, oblivious to what Ygritte was trying to say.

The two older girls looked at each other with those secret eyes, knowing infinitely more than she ever would. Sansa seemed to look like she disagreed, but couldn't deny the possibility of it happening. "She means, that his "friends" that will also be attending, will suddenly have to "cancel" or "can't make it" at the last minute and then you two will be left alone."

"Well I don't know about that." Gendry's "friend" had been the one to invite her in the first place. Why such an elaborate ploy to get her alone, when all he had to do was ask her over himself? No, she didn't think Gendry was sneaky like that, his friends would unfortunately be there with them. The whole time. It sort of looked like Sansa also agreed.

"We'll see." The red head said, tipping her glass back. "You should definitely wear no underwear, just in case."

"Ygritte!" Sansa and Arya both exclaimed, Arya with a shocked laugh, and Sansa with a concerned look on her face.

"Arya should definitely not go commando to a boy's house! What is wrong with you?"

"And why not? I'm going commando right now."

"Because she'll be surrounded by dicks! Dicks just flying every which way and she won't be wearing underwear!"

How had she gotten herself into this situation? Moreover, why did Sansa think there would be dicks everywhere? And also, did she really think wearing panties would be enough to stop a rapist? So many questions and sadly Arya really didn't want any of the answers.

"You act as though she's going to an orgy, San. It's just a party." Ygritte paused as she took a mighty sip of her wine. "And besides, you talk about orgies like they're a bad thing. Things don't get fun until you lose count."

"First of all, ew. Second of all, nuh-uh, I know you, Ygritte Michelle. You're not going to stop at panty-less outfits, next you're going to suggest that she sidle on in there like Adrianna Lima!"

A wide, cat-like smile spread over Ygritte's face, "She _so_ should!"

"What?" Arya was so confused. "What's a sidle?"

Ygritte jumped up off the sofa to demonstrate, "Watch." She walked over to the front door and turned around, making eye contact she started her walk, all hips swinging and slow struts.

"Runway walk? You think I should runway walk into this party?"

"No. No one expects you to do that." Her sister said to her, shaking her head at her close friend.

"Oh you so should. Or," She exclaimed excitedly, coming to lean against the hallway doorframe. "Hey, sugar." Her voice low and sultry, her eyes slightly narrowed.

Sansa just burst out laughing at Ygritte's stance, leaning against the wall, a hand on her hip. But really, what was going on? "Just, no, Yee."

"You seriously want me to call someone, _sugar_?" Arya asked with a quirked brow.

Ygritte threw up her hands, "Fine, I give the fuck up." She plopped back down on the couch to finish eating her pizza. "Do whatever you want."

Arya leaned her back against the couch, finishing her pizza and drinking more of the wine. She was getting drunk with her sister and Ygritte on a friday afternoon, eating pizza and junk food, and watching bad movies and listening to bad music that made them smile. And, as she looked up at the two older girls from her place on the floor, she had never been more fucking confused in her life on what to do about tomorrow. She looked down at her phone, and then down at her empty wine glass and made a decision.

More wine. She could probably make better decision if she had more wine.


End file.
